The Niro Case
by Beauty in decay
Summary: Rin closed his eyes and sighed as Yukio cursed at him again. Really, what had the younger boy expected? Flowers? A song and dance? Was there even a card to say "Sorry for faking my death for five years to protect you?"? Probably not. It was all Tokyo's fault, If the city hadn't been invaded with demons then there would be no cursing younger twin in his ear! See inside for warnings
1. 1 Five years on

_Cale; Hi! Wow, it has been a long time since we updated. _

**Jace; whose fault is that?**

_Cale; Shut it you,any who since my douche of a brother deleted the original version of The Niro Case we decided to, re-write it with a lot less OC; however, there is still the same amount of OCCness here. _

**Jace; We would like to remind people that this is Sort-of AU, which means it is – in essence – a **"what if"** story. So Rin does NOT tell Shiro not to call himself his father ever again and Mephisto was NOT the "friend" that Shiro told Rin to go to. **

_Cale; this is set four years later after that, Shiro and Yukio think that Rin is dead. We have to warn you there is Yaoi in this. It might not be extreme but it will appear eventually but we will give warnings when it appears. _

_**Both; if you do not like that then please do not read this. Thank you **_

Summary; **when Rin fled his childhood home, he never would have thought four years later that his life could take even more a bizarre turn. Upon arriving in the demon nest that was Tokyo, he definitely did not expect to find his father and twin brother there, ready to hunt him down. **

Warnings**; Language/violence/Supernatural themes. **

PS. Regrettably neither of us has ever been to Tokyo so do not be expecting any detailed descriptions of the city landmarks. If anything, it is a made up city and we have borrowed the name Tokyo.

* * *

He cursed as he hit the tarmac, bouncing back off from the force before hitting the ground again in a spin, rolling until he passed a metal pole. Gripping it tightly he grunted as he forced is body up into the air to swing round. The momentum sent his booted foot into the face of the rabid demon that was chasing after him and a sick satisfaction sunk in as the creature flew backwards and impaled onto another metal spike. It screamed once before falling silent and he grinned bloodily as his feet touched the ground again. Slowly, as if taunting the now dead demon, he turned his head to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood from the punch that had sent him spinning.

A cry of a demon echoed down the street and he chuckled as he set off, carrying on in that manner; taking out the demons as they attacked him. Moving with a deadly silence through the streets, ducking behind broken walls and into abandoned builds like a deadly predator with a mission and a bad attitude.

Tokyo city – once so defined as busy and lively was a dead city – overrun with demons and ghouls. It had been the result of the exorcise base in the south of Tokyo being blown up by some weird blue explosion that ripped a hole right through the wall between Assiah and Gehenna thrust letting a constant wave of demons out – right up until the Order closed it – immediately the cleanup crews had moved in but it wasn't enough. Hence, why he was running through the streets; taking out as many of the demons as possible. Whilst also looking for city centre.

Rin Okumura dropped to the ground by a broken down bank, mumbling as he hit the cracked and dusty floor, rolling under a large slab of concrete.

The curses and cries of surprise from the people hiding inside the building found themselves ignored as Rin ducked in to what would have been a safe only five days ago. Surprisingly it was intact and Rin pondered on the idea of it being a bomb shelter. The contents – making him pause in the safes doorway – was not what he was expecting to say the least; for stood before him was a ring of Hunters, four men and three women and all heavily armed.

One of the men (more like a boy) was sneering in distaste, the metal loop in his eyebrow twisted in a way that Rin could only imagine as painful. A bleached blond streak ran down the centre of his head, his ears riddled with studs, and metallic loops in what must have been an extreme act of rebellion or just a really bad fashion taste. Not that Rin could ever talk about fashion sense having literally lived in a cave for four years, for all he knew that _was_ the current fashion trend.

Another had bubblegum pink hair that made Rin want to cringe and a metal staff like thing in his hands, the gormless expression did nothing to enhance the impression of his intelligence especially if his hair was anything to go by.

Next to them was a small bald guy with glasses, who looked terrified and kept trembling, Rin quickly dismissed him as a chanter* instead of a fighter. Opposite was a small busty blond girl in a kimono, tears in her eyes and an annoyingly pathetic expression seemingly engraved onto her what-would-be pretty face, beside her was a tall girl with a flat chest with dark purple hair, weird eyebrows and a glare to match. Finally, there was a tall busty woman in a bikini and short shorts with blond and red hair.

It was not – however – six people that had made Rin pause in his mission, odd-looking as they were. No, it was the man that was very clearly their leader; with his grey hair still as unruly as ever. His stupid grey goatee, round glasses and priest clothing had not changed either and for some reason it made Rin angry and hurt that the man hadn't changed despite his disappearance.

The moment Rin had stopped to hover in the doorway they had all turned to face him with an air of surprise and Rin was sure glade as hell that he had changed over the past four years as they're eyes narrowed at him.

Shiro Fujimoto stepped forwards, a dark scowl on his face as the other hunters moved to form a semi-circle around the old man. Rin arched an eyebrow at the movement but otherwise let no changes in his expressions show. '_Must be students of his…'_The taste of jealousy was bitter in his mouth and Rin forced himself to swallow. If this was the payment he had to make for leaving his family to protect them, then so be it…even if he did not like it.

"Who are you?" Shiro asked quietly, his voice full of command and power. Rin frowned and cocked his head to the side, mildly offended that the man who had called himself his father for fifteen years did not recognises him. In what was a rather childish response, Rin ignored the question in favour of trying to figure out why these people were here and why he was not staring at a broken-down courtyard with a horde of demons bellow. '_I am sure this was meant to lead me to the city centre…I should be there already_' He thought as he scratched his chin in habitude.

"Oi!" Strippy hissed, "Don't just ignore Fujimoto-sama!"

'…_left, right, straight, left, right, and right, left…I do not think I missed a turn' _Rin thought – ignoring the bad fashion/rebellious boy and his pointless outrage – counting his turns, mentally glaring at the map he had memorised only hours ago in preparation for this stupid and rather easy mission.

Strippy stepped forwards, breaking their perfect formation that probably took years to perfect without someone tripping over and attempted to grab his collar, however Rin moved subconsciously; slapping the reaching hand away before pointing one of his guns at the irritated Strippy haired boy.

Everyone froze, staring at the gun in astonishment. _When had he pulled _that_ out?_ They all thought at the same time.

Rin however was now in a world of his own, running over all of the instructions and descriptions on the landmarks given. He had not missed anything from the briefing so why was he lost. Where was the fighting? The killing? The rabid demons fighting for kingship of this hellhole?

"…I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere…" Rin muttered irritably under his breath, the others still heard him though and exchange confused glances.

"Erm…are you lost?" Pinkie asked carefully and Rin looked up, momentarily taken aback by the question before realising his mistake. He silently cursed himself; that was the old him-he did _not_ talk aloud anymore. He was the man that would kill anyone for any reason.

"Nope. I'm fine. I'll just be blowing a hole through that wall now," Rin said emotionlessly in a breezy kind of way with a fake grin before moving the barrel of the gun from Strippy to the wall behind Shiro, still grinning sadistically. The exorcists cursed before jumping out of the way, just as the teen pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang followed by a crash and a swarm of smoke and dust rushed at them.

Rin closed his eyes and mouth, holding his breath as he hoisted the demon gun, years of practice and experience being his teacher and reminder in action. After counting to ten, the half demon opened his eyes to find a massive hole staring out into the place he wanted to be.

"Perfect. I knew I wasn't lost," he said, in an almost describable happy tone, his eyes locking with Pinkie's shocked ones. "Well, see ya" Rin stated with an empty smile after a somewhat awarded pause before running towards the hole, a flick of his wrist sent one of his knives sailing through the air to kill a demon as it climbed through, hitting it point blank. Without looking first Rin sprinted through the hole, grabbing his knife as he did so. Flipping over once the half demon grunted slightly as his feet hit the back of another demon, ridding it down the slope of rubble like a surfer would a do wave.

_Father was here…maybe-No! Yukio was a part of my old life now; I cannot waste this mission to see a boy who never liked me._ Rin scowled as he jumped again firing shots off from his twin guns. _Damn them all_. Angry and irritated the teen spun around to meet his enemy, a scowling dangerous looking creature. _Ooh, loads of fun_, he thought sarcastically as they began to run at each other, snarling.

* * *

Shiro was silent as he watched the young man so close in age to his own son flip over the livid demon with ease, his guns flashing as he shot at it. Drenched in its own blood the evil creature screeched in anger and swiped at the man, missing by a hairs breath as he danced out of the way. Even Shiro had to frowned at the torture it was being shown; the boy was clearly not trying to kill it, he was trying to make it angry. The way he fought was not the exorcist style either; it was more brutal and deadly than their style.

_That child…I know him from somewhere…I know that style too_. There was an explosion of red smoke as the teen threw a black ball at the demon, jumping away whilst the demon continued to run towards it, blind in its anger…and disintegrated instantly when the smoke touched its skin – human host and all. Shiro raised his eyebrows in surprise and interest, that type of attack was not something he had seen before. The teen stood up and grinned, although it was still empty, that much was clear even from up above.

Curious, Shiro critically examined the young man as he span out of a demons warpath. The boy had long hair tied into a plait; his face was sharp and angular, framed by his jagged raven fringe. He was tall and lean, probably standing eye to eye with Shiro himself. A set of torn and worn faded black skinny jeans hugged his toned legs whilst a simple dark blue faded print t-shirt with scorched marks and rips all over it clung to his chest. A pair of battered black boots completed the run away look.

Shiro arched an eyebrow as he noticed – for the first time – that strapped to his waist was a set of wicked looking guns, some holly bombs and a pair of curved knives that looked like they could do some serious damage, along with all that there was a sword was across his back.

There was a soft chuckle and Shiro tore his eyes away to face his grim best friend Methisto and solemn son, Yukio.

"I see you've been sent help this time eh? Shiro?" Mephisto asked, smirking as he glanced down at the boy who was now effectively picking off the lower levels of the demon as they scurried towards him, a manic laugh escaping whenever he was not singing what sounded to be "Seven Nation Army".

Yukio turned his head away and let his face turn to a sneer at the reckless style fighting. Shiro bit back the reproach he wanted to spit out, Yukio was not a child anymore and could assess his own performance…even if he was currently acting like a spoilt one.

"Yer, he appeared out of nowhere before freezing. I think he wasn't expecting us to be here," Shiro explained with a shrug, Shima chuckled nervously from his corner, attracting everyone's attention. The pink haired boy swallowed harshly, clearly unsettled by the abrupt attention.

"Was it just me or did he seem lost. Before Bon got in his face it looked like he was running something through his head-like directions or something" Shiro frowned having noticed it as well but had written it off as his old age whispering things to him. The eccentric behaviour almost reminded him of- _Oh hell no!_

"You don't think he works for Niro do you?" Mephisto hissed as Shiro uttered the name of his eldest cousin, his demonic eyes flashing in anger and his short tail quivered in rage. Shiro wanted to roll his eyes at the demons response to his own cousin but he knew better than to do that, Mephisto sure was creative when pisses off, not to mention petty. Niro was one nasty fucker and Mephisto had every right to be pissed off with the other man.

"Let's find out. Yukio, Shima, Bon, Izumo. Bring him to me" the young exorcists nodded once before leaping out of the giant hole with a lot less grace that the boy.

_Rin…protect us in our time of time of need. Please._

* * *

"…_Everyone knows about it_

_From the Queen England to the hounds of Hell-"_

Just when Rin had been about to get to his favoured part, he made a strategic pause as someone shot at him, Strippy, Pinkie and Eyebrows hot on their heal as they ran at him.

Above him – in the bank safe – Shiro and Mephisto watched intensely and Rin fought off the urge to flip them off. _Why are you doing this to me old man_? Rin thought, glaring at Shiro, the old man looked away almost as if he knew to be ashamed.

Pinkie was the first brave (stupid) exorcist to leap at him, waving his staff around in a weird style that Rin recognised easily as the monks of the Cursed Temple's style. The six months Rin had trained with them had him ducking with ease, his hands shooting out to hit the boy's pressure points, knocking him out. _– Rule one of group fighting; never just injure an opponent, take them out_.

As Pinkie fell, Eyebrows leapt over his body, twin blades twirling in her skilled hands. Rin ducked the blades before stepping into her, his forearms clashing with hers; making it impossible for her to swing the blades down at him. However if she relaxed her wrists she would hit him in the chest – not that he gave her the time nor chance to do that – snaking a leg around hers, Rin twisted his body and threw Eyebrows over his hip and at the other teen who slowed his attack to catch the girl.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and Rin flipped over Pinkie's metal staff that Strippy was waving at him.

Irritated the raven brought his heal down on the exorcist hand causing him to yelp and let go. Just as Rin was, about to perform a spinning kick to Strippy's face another shot was fired and as it rebounded off the staff still falling to the ground Rin cursed and leapt away, tumbling backwards.

_Damnit! What is with this boy and his crap timing!_ Rin grumbled to himself, moving into a low crouch, ready to spring into fight mode at any given time.

The staff hit the ground with a resounding _clank_.

In the stillness, that followed Rin allowed his eyes to wonder over the teen that kept shooting at him '_That is_ not _Yukio' _Rin thought in surprise_ 'Holy shit it is Yukio' _Rin's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing to glare with irritation '…_he is taller than I am!'_ Rin noticed with despair. '_Not only did he interrupt my attacks but he is taller than I am as well!'_

Miffed, Rin growled and turned his glare towards Strippy as the weird boy skipped backwards to stand next to Yukio and Eyebrows – who was supporting Pinkie – all three were glaring at him as Yukio held him hostage by gun point. Not that Rin could not escape and still kick their butts, he was just wary of his younger twin shooting at him again.

'_It is funny that now he does not have to pretend to love me his subconscious knows to hate me' _Rin thought as he watched Yukio's face. It seemed that his brother was conflicted by something – not that Rin cared, Yukio would probably try to kill him before confessing what was wrong.

Yukio kept his gun aimed at Rin's head, whilst Strippy said something into an ancient-looking communicator, his tone respectable and polite. Rin almost snorted and rolled his eyes at the little puppy act. '_He is calling his Boss…wonder who he is_' Rin mused, visually relaxing his crouch until he was sitting with his legs crossed, leaning backwards onto his hands, looking up at the three hunters with a small grin.

Yukio's startled reaction was evident enough to say he had spooked him; sadly, Rin was almost happy that he had unnerved his younger brother it had been so long since he had teased him. Even when they were fifteen, it had been difficult to get a rise out of Yukio what with his cool and mature act. Bored with watching his brother Rin turned his gaze to the sky and almost smiled at the overcast.

Of course, the sky would be gloomy in a post-apocalyptic city.

"Who are you?" Strippy snapped and Rin pulled his eyes away from the sky to glare at the idiotic boy who was attempting to interrogate him – not that it was working. If he didn't answer _Shiro_, when he asked then what on earth made this _child_ think he would answer _him_! The intensity of his glare almost made both Strippy and Eyebrows step backwards, the smell of fear rolling off them in waves. '_Morons'_.

"I am no one, I am everyone. I am nothing I am everything-" Rin told them, bored with this conversation already. He cut off as the tip of his tail twitched, a dark shadow fell over Strippy and he looked up to meet the odd eyes of his elder half brother.

"You're dodging the question little boy" Strippy tensed as the perverted clown, Mephisto, placed a hand on his shoulder. Rin arced an eyebrow '_Little boy? Pedo_!' he almost laughed at his own thoughts.

Yukio sent the clown a seething glance before lowering his gun. Shiro moved next to his son and smirked at the glare Yukio was sending to the Head Master. Rin was also grinning now; it was empty and emotionless but a grin never the less. It was amusing, his old life on one side and the enemy on the other. '_Master would find this interesting'_.

"I know you" Mephisto continued "Your one of Niro's students, Lace or something" Rin raised the other eyebrow so that both were close to his hairline at the statement but said nothing, he knew of this Clown's anger. It was not exactly a secret; there was an entire book series of one of his temper tantrums!

"Niro trains his students in teams. Where is yours" Shiro asked quietly, his eyes downcast. Rin smirked and cocked his head to the side, pretending to be thinking. His orders said nothing about fighting neither humans nor the demons that _work_ for them. That meant he had a free pass for whatever it was he did next…as long as it was not messy his boss would not care.

"Hummmmmm….I'm special" Rin replied with a wicked grin, his eyes shining mischievously as he ignited as staring contest with his elder brother, daring him to look away and give him the chance to escape.

When that did not work he said; "My turn now. Why are you here? Your protocol says that after three days if the situation isn't dealt with you…nuke it" Rin sat forwards, losing his grin and all playfulness. "So I'll ask once again, why are you still here. It must be important if the two big guns of your little Order and their bitches are here to personally deal with it…" Rin trailed off as Mephisto and Shiro exchanged looks. It was not the sort that said, "_We'll tell you everything_", appose to; they were going to do something stupid like try and capture him.

"How would _you_ know what our protocol is?" Yukio asked, breaking the silence left by Rin's accusation. It sounded extremely snobby, but then again Rin suspected he would be the same if he had slept in a bed for four years instead of on the floor. Aside from the snide thought, Rin continued to ignore the younger exorcist, focusing on the Paladin and Demon Head Master before him. Shiro shifted uncomfortably and Rin narrowed his eyes.

"Unless…you can't" Rin muttered and the eyes of the two men flared "You can't Nuke the city 'coz it's too big-no that's not it, you happily Nuked New York a couple of years ago…" the looks on their faces was priceless and if it had been any other day then Rin would have laughed. "Performance problems then? Don't worry…lack of certain appendages does that to people"

Without warning - although Rin expected it had something to do with the mention of the lost tail - Mephisto snarled and leapt at the younger of the two demons.

Acting quickly, Rin rolled backwards, only just escaping the attack before scrambling to his feet and setting off at a sprint; dropping his holly mist bombs on the way. They wouldn't stop the crazy clown of course, but they would certainly slow him down. Humans were affected by them as well due to the hallucinate dust laced through the mist.

Taking a deep breath Rin sped up before leaping with cat like grace, landing in the window on the second floor of the empty building a curse rolling off his tongue as Yukio jumping up after him. A swift kick to the shoulder as he landed in the room took Yukio down with a yelp, sending him crashing into a bookcase. He was – of cause – back on his feet within a second but it was all the time Rin needed to take off up the stairs in an almost blur.

The two brothers race up the stairs, Rin about a ten steps above Yukio, both out of breath and both tired. Suddenly a memory of racing Yukio up the stairs when they were younger hit Rin and he almost stumbled, allowing Yukio to gain a second on him. Panicked Rin almost gave a cry of joy as he reached the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Grinning as he saw his open space; large enough to cast the teleportation portal that he summoned with natural ease. The door behind flung open just as Rin started to sprint towards the black mist steadily expanding.

Yukio must have realised that his pursuit was futile as he began to shoot at Rin, hoping to stop him, or at least slow him down but none of the bullet seemed to hit, each slug screamed in frustration as they shot by him, rebounding off the concrete floor, or disappearing over the edge of the roof. One got lucky though for just as Rin was about to leap to safety, a cartridge ripped through his upper leg and the half demon lost his concentration, falling through the portal with only a vague thought as to where he wanted to be.

_Damn it Yukio!_

* * *

_Cale; Finished! Now who would like a preview of the next chapter? _

**Jace; Here's a peek of what's in store;**

'_Just what I need…a defaulting rabbit with no sense of self-preservation'_ Rin thought as he shifted his injured leg to stretch out in front of him whilst he lent against a tree

He could feel the dark presence of his Master moving towards him through the mountains. An hour at most until The Master reached him, and what better way to spend that time sleeping?

Rin smiled as he moved to get comfortable, the smile fleeing his face when he flinched as he moved too fast. _Damn Yukio's a good shot with that bloody gun…I was miles away…_

"_Something you want Nii-san?"_

"_Not from you little brother"_

"_I will never be as good a son as you"_

"…_I wish you were dead"_

_Cale; Ooh…Review and some of that might make sense (Hopefully) _

**Jace; Don't put any money on it **

_Cale; - Ignores him – Because of how slow we work we will be updating every month. _

_So…._

_**CHAPTER TWO IS NOT COMING OUT UNTIL JANUARY THE 4**__**TH**__** 2013.**_


	2. 2 Memories in the Snow

_Cale; Hi, this is the second chapter to the Niro Case. You even get to meet Niro, yer yer we know its soon but we needed him in this chapter. He disappears again for awhile after this : D_

**Jace; It's been re-written to fit in with the story line more**

_**Both; enjoy!**_

Summary; **when Rin fled his childhood home, he never would have thought four years later that his life could take even more a bizarre turn. Upon arriving in the demon nest that was Tokyo, he definitely did not expect to find his father and twin brother there, ready to hunt him down. **

Warnings**; Language/violence/Supernatural themes. See Chapter one for more warnings and random waffle **

PS. Sorry its late Jace was in Cyprus on holiday and my internet has been down, Sorry

* * *

The night was silent, the only sounds among the imposing old trees that watched over the forest being a short and rapid breathing pattern and the snapping of twigs beneath booted feet as a tall dark haired teenager stumbled through the darkness. A limp defining him as he struggled to walk quickly knowing how dangerous the forest was at night what with the demons and other unsightly creatures of the night.

His clothing ripped and covered in blood and dust was pretty much a neon sign saying, _"I am weakened and bloody! Come and eat me!" _Around his leg, a tatty piece of cloth soaked through with blood hindered is movement as he tried to crouch down sharply at the rustling of a bush.

Wincing at the sharp jolt of pain that rushed through his leg, Rin pulled out his gun and aimed at the source of the noise instead of trying to dodge out of sight, which was his first instinct. The leaves rustled a little more before a white fluffy rabbit hopped out and if Rin were not in so much pain, he would have sweat dropped at the sight of the small creature sniffing him calmly.

'_Just what I need…a defaulting rabbit with no sense of self-preservation'_ Rin thought shooing the rabbit, shifting his injured leg to stretch out in front of him whilst he lent against a tree. '_A little rest couldn't hurt me and its not like Master doesn't know where I am'. _

It was true, even now, he could feel the dark presence of his Master moving towards him through the mountains. An hour at most until he reached him; what better way to spend that time sleeping? Rin huffed as he moved to get comfortable, the rabbit - ignoring the shooing – curled up against Rin's good leg like a little hot water bottle. He smiled and began to pet the fluff ball secretly happy for the company, even if it was only an animal.

The smile fled his face as he moved too fast and flinched. '_Damn Yukio's a good shot with that bloody gun…I was miles away…'_ He thought with a sense of twisted pride, but then again he had always been proud of Yukio…even when they fought. Even on the day of his "Death"

...

_The wind was gently running its fingers thought his hair like a lover's touch…if said lover was also abusive, sending shivers down the spines of anyone caught in its grip. The cold slowly seeped into his bones, ignoring the restrictions of clothing as a criminal would the law. Snow fell in unchartered patterns caught in the winds abuse twisting and turning to try to escape. It was a beautiful sight if you just stopped to watch.*_

_Rin smiled before turning to look at his school. A tall and imposing building that forbid any kind of mischief or misconduct. The teenager grinned up at it, a silent challenge in his eyes because no matter how hard the teachers tried they never stomped that aspect of his personality out. The wind spiked suddenly rushing up around him; catching the bottom of his jacket and tugging it about, his hair flew into his eyes and whipped at his face. _

_Snorting Rin turned to the side and allowed himself to fall into the wall by the main gate. Just in time to miss the chaos that the bell shrieking the freedom of all those trapped inside caused._

_Children spilled out of the school gates – laughing and joking – oblivious to the false sorrow and excitement spiralling around them. The older teens were hugging each other and crying; making empty promises to keep in touch, knowing that they would talk for a week before high school offered other – new – more interesting people._

_Rin found it utterly sickening. _

_Why Yukio insisted he graduate normal with everyone else was truly beyond his older brother, why hadn't he just done what Rin had done; tell everyone nothing and collect his graduation stuff from the teacher that morning so to save having to revile to everyone at school that he was _not_ a flunk. Not that Yukio knew Rin had done that of course. _

_However, Yukio just _had_ to be perfect because ever since they turned twelve Yukio had under gone a massive change; he'd became colder and a general displeasure to be around but recently it had been becoming more specialised to just hating Rin. _

_It had even gotten to the point that _Shiro_ noticed and had finally had enough of their silent fighting, hence the reason why Rin was leaning against the railing of the school. Winking at the teachers that shot him nasty looks for having the balls to come to the school he never attended anyway waiting for his "brilliant" little brother. _

_A fan group had surrounded Yukio the moment he stepped out of the doors as usual, giggling and bubbling girls as they said their goodbyes to their "Beloved Yukio-kun". The girl that he had been walking with giggled herself before walking out of the gates alone. Rin watched her walk away with an arched eyebrow before turning back to his brother and his fan girls and boys. '_Bleck, I bet if they saw him around the house, they would change their minds about how wonderful he was'_. _

_Yukio had a habit of acting like an ass when they were at the temple their father ran, he was also didn't look the same. At school, he was laughing and talking and his eyes would be bright and full of life. At home, he was glaring and a general upset, his eyes dull and empty. _

_Rin rolled his eyes and watched the people flood out, smirking when one of the wannabe bad girls winked at him; she flustered when he let his eyes roam her body and ran away to her giggling friends. '_I will never understand girls'_. Yukio seemed to spot him because he grinned before frowning at something as if remembering to be angry with Rin. '_Not that I'll ever understand, some guy's either, seems he's still pissed about whatever it is that I've done to offend him, stupid Yukio'_. _

_Rin snorted and turned away from his brother, instead finding interest in flicking through his phone, scowling at the amount of texts Shiro had sent to make sure he had indeed gone to find Yukio. Rin rolled his eyes and deleted them, he didn't need them and he wasn't going to reply to them, he didn't want them taking up space on his phone. _

_Someone cleared their throat and Rin looked up disinterested to see Yukio observing him with an arched eyebrow. Rin pushed down the raging butterflies that were attempting to take over. Yukio was looking at him for the first time in weeks and there was something burning in his eyes. _

"_Something you want Nii-san?" Yukio asked coldly and Rin felt the familiar flare of hurt at the neglect shown by his own brother before a cold distain flooded it, the butterflies crushed at the bottom of the emotional pile that he turned into whenever Yukio was around. Rin shrugged and smirked at a passing group of girls._

"_Not from you little brother" Rin sneered letting his gaze stay on the girls for a passing moment before he returned it to Yukio who was now glaring at him. "Old Man sent me, he noticed that your pissed at me and said that we're not allowed to go home until we've "_made friends_"" Yukio's glare disappeared to be replaced with a cold blank mask. _

"_I'm not pissed at you. We don't need to make friends," Yukio told him in a robotic tone and Rin snorted and shoved off the wall, walking away with his hands in his pockets. _

"_Sure you're not," he muttered rolling his eyes. He could tell from the sound of footsteps that Yukio was following him, although he was deep in thought. Rin rolled his eyes again before biting his lip. Yukio had never been this angry at him before, not even when Rin went up to the girl Yukio liked and told her. Yukio had ignored him for two weeks before Rin broke into his room and hugged him to death. That was when they were eight, hugging the other 15 year old boy now however would result in a black eye and a killing headache. _

"_Soooooo….who was the girl you were with when you came out of class?" Rin asked in a bored tone, dropping back to walk next to Yukio who was blinking owlishly at the question, clearly caught off guard. _

"_Ummm…Just a friend" Yukio replied carefully, as if he was waiting for Rin to comment further on it. Rin caught the hesitant look before smiling warmly. Understanding straight away, something their father didn't notice was that recently Yukio had been coming home with large dark bruises on his chest and stomach. At first, he had thought Yukio was self-harming and that was why he was being an ass but they kept appearing in places you'd only get hurt in during a fight. _

_Rin _had_ thought about finding whoever did it and making them pay, but a quick encounter with his younger brother caused him to push the protective instincts that ruled his younger life down. Yukio could look after himself now, Rin had to give him room to grown to protect himself and he could not do that if every time he was beaten on Rin stepped in. _

"_So she's the reason for the bruises eh?" Yukio shot him a startled look that made Rin chuckle fondly happy to see the younger boy's eyes soften as he returned the fond look. "She looked pretty…what's her name?" Rin asked interested in the girl that had caught his brother's eye. Yukio flustered for a couple of seconds before sighing and running a hand through his dark brown hair. _

"_Jean-Lee, she's a transfer" Yukio explained with a guilty smile. Rin grinned, happy that Yukio was opening up to him. It made his heart flutter and something warm flood his chest. "And yer she's the indirect course, the school jock has his eye on her and I made the mistake of telling him to back off after he tried to pressure her into seeing him" Rin sent Yukio a flabbergasted look. _

"_You told someone to piss off? Moreover, I missed it. Well damn!" Rin muttered and almost burst with happiness as Yukio threw his head back and laughed. It was almost like how they used to be before they turned seven, the carefree happy atmosphere was warmer than the cold and bitter one that had surrounded them for the past couple of years. _

"_I miss this…" Yukio suddenly stated, staring straight ahead, ignoring Rin when he looked to him taken aback by the sudden announcement. "I miss walking home with you whilst we talk about things – anything – ...I feel as if I hardly see you anymore," Yukio said and this time he met Rin's electric blue gaze with his own sea foam blue. _

_Rin swallowed, they were in dangerous territory now. Yukio did not like it when the fight club was brought up, nor did he like it when Rin went out drinking with his "friends" and Rin didn't want to argue with his younger half. They may have been twins but they could not get any different. _

"_Ummm, yer well you and the old man are doing your training for taking over the church and becoming a doctor ect," Rin didn't see Yukio flinch " I…I…err…." Rin sighed. There was no point sugar coating it, if he was going to answer Yukio's question, he needed to be truthful about it, despite that it would hurt. " I just felt like a third wheel whenever I was around so I started going out and now I find it hard to come home" Yukio stopped walking and so did Rin, but he didn't look at the younger. _

"_I felt like I wasn't wanted there, like I was imposing. The fighting helps me forget that I will never be as good a son as you" Yukio took a sharp breath and Rin sighed. '_Ah fuck, I did not mean to make him angry nor upset'_. Talking to Yukio was always like this, it was like walking on eggshells – something Rin hated – and he had to watch what he said. Rin stared at the floor cursing the growing frustration and hatred that practically ruled his life recently. _

"_I didn't know me and father gave you the impression that we didn't want you" Yukio replied stiffly. Rin groaned internally, so much for things being better. He sighed and turned to look at Yukio, the younger looked hurt and angry. '_Shit…'

"_Yukio…" _

"_Shut up. You know what Nii-san, maybe if you actually tried and gave a damn about your life then father and I wouldn't exclude you from our "little family"" Yukio seethed, Rin observed him silently for a second. The younger was pissed, that much was clear. His eyes were dilated, and his cheeks were flustered pink, his glasses were crooked on his nose and his fists were balled up. Rin sighed. '_If only Yukio could see the diploma* tucked away in my bag that would certainly change his mind'.

"_Right. Whatever you say little brother. Tell the old man I'll be late coming home, I'll be missing dinner," Rin drawled, slipping his cold mask on to protect him from Yukio. This happened every time Rin tried to let Yukio in. Yukio would react violently and Rin would leave and not be seen for days. _

"_I leave tomorrow," Yukio muttered, suddenly looking apologetic. Rin said nothing his emotions shut off; he couldn't let them back on to have them spat in back in his face…again. _

_Why was Yukio telling him that? He knew that he was going away to his new high school that he worked hard to get into whilst Rin moved to France to work in the restaurant that had recruited him, although neither Yukio nor Shiro knew that. Yet._

"_Don't worry; I won't be around to mess up your leaving party. Good Bye little brother and good luck. Show those rich assholes that your better than them" Rin said with a small fake sad smile before walking away, leaving Yukio looking lost and angry on the walk way. _

"…_I wish you didn't exist" it was a whisper but the wind carried it to Rin and the raven closed his eyes, fighting back tears. _

"_You and me both," _

_..._

"Rin"

The half demon's eyes snapped open and they flared a demonic blue for a second before they settled into his normal bright blue, the flames of his Father having long since burnt out the coloured contact lenses that he had _been_ wearing. Green was kinda his thing when on missions like that, green was the colour of nature and Nature was unforgiving no matter who you were.

Looking up the teen stiffened before grunting in acknowledgment, his bright eyes staring holes into the hood worn by his Master who was looking…ruffled.

Normally his Master wore a red velvet cloak with the hood drawn up covering his head so that only his mouth showed, a silver ribbon of hair pulled over his left shoulder and his hands nearly always tucked behind him. Right now however, his usually elegant Master had his hood drawn up more so that the tip of his nose escaped the dark confinements of his hood, his silver hair flowed over both shoulders and his arms folded across his chest.

"What have I told you about sleeping in the forest?" His tone was sharp and Rin finally noted that low-level demons that occupied the forest were surrounding them. Rin grinned sheepishly as he told the lower demons to leave mentally. Knowing that if he said it out aloud his Master would think he was mocking him. What with the elder Demon being restricted in what he could do with his abilities. His Master had once told him that banishment was a bitch.

"Sorry Master, my leg prevented me from moving any longer," Rin, uttered lowering his head when the sharp line that was his Master's mouth didn't soften. _Master must be pissed at me…I_ did _almost fail my mission. _Rin thought as he pressed down on the healing flesh of his leg, before he struggled to his feet. Lurching sideways Rin heard his Master sigh before a tight grip caught his elbow, faltering his collision with the forest floor. Muttering a thank you the younger of the two corrected himself, breathing heavily as pain raced up his leg and seeped into the newly formed hole in his leg, almost crippling the young man.

Niro sighed again as he watched on as his student struggled to hold his own even though he was clearly suffering from blood loss, fatigue and pain. The boy really needed to learn to rely on others. It was worrying enough that the little Halfling refused to work with a team; it was annoying that he did it because he didn't want to trouble anyone else.

"You need to learn how to rely on those around you Rin," Niro muttered as the boy collapsed into him.

"You can't do everything by yourself" But the advice was unheard as Rin had already slipped into a restless sleep, letting the day's events finally catch up with him.

* * *

_Three months later…_

Yukio stormed down the aging corridor to his room in the old boy's dormitory, a foul mood gripping him tightly.

It had three months – _three whole bloody months_ – for the exorcists to respond to the escape of the Niro Operative and even then, it was not satisfactory (at least in Yukio's eyes).

The diplomatic approach taken had resulted in a group of snivelling, easy talking, slim-balls flying out to England to try and sweet talking Niro into not taking any more actions against them. Because the Knights had ruled that because the _Boy_ had been on a mission and in the city first, _they_ were in the wrong – more likely, they were still pissed with Shiro for that April fool's prank, they never liked Mephisto…and Niro had the bigger "Gun" if it were.

The elder demon, Niro, had not taken too kindly to the talks and proceeded to allow his minions to have a little fun with them. The bodies had been shipped back a week later with a note apologising for not returning them in the same state that they were given in.

They arrived in a shoebox.

Mephisto had been in a violent rage for months after, yelling and dishing out the worse punishment possible at anyone who so much as breathed too heavily. The exwires and other lower ranks began avoiding him as a rule, whilst the higher ranks joked about how he was just irritated about the loss of his tail flaunted in his face what with the rematerializing of the elusive demon that drove his dear cousin Mephisto insane.

Shiro in comparison was taking the reappearance of the demon he had originally entrusted his eldest son's safety to rather well. He had issued new lesson criteria for everyone from lower first class – the very same class that Yukio taught as their homeroom teacher – to higher second class. An entire hour and a half dedicated to learning how to fight Niro agents.

"…_this is not a way to defeat them, this is a means to escape from their attacks," he had told them with an uncharacteristically straight morbid face. Yukio had seen Bon shiver slightly but did not comment. "When dealing with a Niro agent you need to forget everything you have ever been taught about fighting demons and monsters because there is no safety in number when they are your opponent. They will destroy entire forts just to get to one man" Shiro had fixed them with a hard stare that showed them he wasn't joking and that he wasn't exaggerating the extremes that Niro's people took to ensure their target was caught. _

"_They will kill you the first chance they get so don't stick around" _

Yukio's step faulted as he remembered his Fathers words at the very end of the lesson. Out of everything said and done in that lesson it was those parting words that really struck Yukio with surprise and – although he couldn't explain it – anger. Yukio had had to literally bite his tongue. Something he had not needed to do since before Rin passed.

He could not say the things rushing through his head, no one was supposed to know who Niro was, he wasn't supposed to know that was who Rin was going to see the night he died, that it was because Shiro drove Rin out that night that he died. Yukio was supposed to know nothing…but he did.

"If Niro trains his people to kill us on sight then why didn't _he_?" Yukio only dared to utter the question that had been plaguing him once he was alone in his room with the door barricaded and the windows locked. It was a valid question, why hadn't the boy that had an aura so much like Rin's killed them rather than knock them out? Was it some form of rebellion or a whim? It was as if his brain was on a constant loop, stuck on the same thing, catching over and over and over again.

It had even gone so far as to Yukio dreaming of the boy. He was a mystery to Yukio in that every time he thought of the Niro agent his brain automatically made the link to Rin. It was only natural what with the small things that He had done in their short encounter. The way He had tilted His head with that childish curiosity, the amused glint in His eyes and the sense of safety that He had admitted like His natural smell; all of it reminded Yukio so much of his lost brother.

The stab of pain from his heart had Yukio staggering to his bed as he bit his lip, fighting the tears and he tried unsuccessfully to stamp out the pain left by the Rin shaped hole in his heart. Shiro thought that they were close when they were younger, boarding on self-reliant what with the way that they immediately ran to the other whenever there was a problem before they went to Shiro.

When Yukio was hurting from the bullying or scared from the invisible demons he would run and hide behind Rin. When Rin was upset and needed a hug or reassurance that he was not a freak he would turn to Yukio. They lent on each other and Shiro had no idea how close they had really been, even when they grew up they still managed to stay closer than normal for two twin boys.

Until Yukio was accepted to True Cross academy, everything changed after that.

Yukio bit his lip once again and closed his eyes on the tears threatening to fall. He'd called off their friendship a week before Rin had died on the stupid notion that once Yukio was in high school they'd be seeing less of each other and that Rin wouldn't move on with his life if he held on to his little brother.

His big brother had been full of surprises, one of them came in the form of a phone call from a five star restaurant in Paris asking where Rin was, and why he hadn't turned up to work. Then there was the diplomas tucked smartly into the bag that the elder twin had been carrying the night he died.

It made Yukio hate himself even more.

He had ripped Rin down the day he died, saying he needed to try.

Everything Yukio Knew about his brother had been false. He was _not_ a drop out, he was _not_ a knucklehead, and he _did_ have a heart. Yukio bit his fist before taking a shuddering breath.

Now was not the time to be thinking of Rin, he had a mission in an hour and he still needed to pack and round up his students who were coming with him. Slipping back on his mask Yukio strolled to his door placing a hand on the handle before pausing to look back at his desk. He smiled slightly before slipping out into the deserted corridor.

Back on his desk a picture of two little boy's in innocence bliss continued to laugh; unaware of what was to come.

* * *

_Cale; Yay! Finished! Now for the next chapter tgnbeqjothgnbebv dbvbgknbegb_

**Jace; Ignore her, she face-planted the keyboard. Next update should be next month. If we manage to complete it. Its really hard to write in Yukio's point of view. **

Until next time…

_**Please review!**_

:D


	3. 3 The Staff

_Cale; Hi, this is the third chapter of Niro Case :D And I think it's on time :D _

**Jace; She's very please with herself – rolls eyes – **

_Cale; - happily - Shut up and let me bask in the moment. Might be on time but it is about a thousand words shorter than usual because of reason's I shall now explain along with why we are only updating every month. _

**Jace; You see when we first started this story both of us lived in the same country, now however, I have moved to cypress and Cale has moved back to the UK so cross-referencing things between us is going to take some time. **

_Cale; this is why we have given ourselves such a big gap between updates. We are only just telling people this because we were not sure if Jace WAS moving. However, the story shall continue despite the sudden seven-hour plane journey between us _

_**Both; enjoy the chapter xx**_

_**A/N; Woops sorry, I accidently uploaded the wrong document. O_o. Here is the finished chapter and sorry for the mistake (there are not that many changes or if you have already read it you probably will not notice the difference).**_

* * *

The Staff of Moses – buried in the foundations of The Temple of Golden Monks in Germany – was legend to have driven all the residents of the lower levels of the temple insane thousands of years ago. Turning them hungry for power, the staff broke down their mental barriers until they allowed demons to possess their bodies. Most ripped themselves apart in seconds; the monks that did not die right away festered before moving up through the Temple to torture the other Monks that stayed in the upper temples. It wasn't until they attacked the village bellow the Temple that the head monks intervened, killing all the infected prayers before ordering the Staff to be hidden away for all eternity.

….Apparently, eternity did not last as long as it used to. Either that or some poor sod had uncovered a small part of the Staff giving it room to inflict madness on all those who came too close.

The temple itself was perched on the peak of a mountain range that was near impossible to climb, fly, or drive to. You had to know the path as well as your own face to survive, and even then, you risked death with every step you took.

The more senior Monks had often occupied the towers that reached up in to the heavens on the utmost peaks, their great halls elaborate and stunning and seen for miles around. It was here that they retreated when the demons had swarmed the temple. The great doors falling shut and stories told of the horrors that had befallen those trapped inside, having to turn to cannibalism to survive.

Only the five Head Monks had escaped out of the mountains via a small passage that lead to one of the villages bellow – It was also these five Monks that later founded the True Cross Order but that is a different story for a different time.

The Temples had been a feasting ground for all sorts of demons and ghouls ever since and no sane human even dared to venture past the forest that coddled the base of the mountain.

Rin was not entirely sure he was sane though, and had no issues or restraints about climbing the cursed mountains to look for a bloody stick that had a nasty habit of driving people insane – although he strongly suspected that he should.

This might have been because of the demon blood rushing through his veins, it might have been because the lower demons could not sense him due to the tattoo etched into his left shoulder (A painful experience that had left a burning hatred of Holly Water etched deeply into Rin's memories) and this gave him a sense of invisibility.

He did not know what it was and personally did not like to dwell on his more…stranger skills when it came to being the son of Satan, it made him grumpy.

"Next time, he can get his own damn stick," Rin grumbled to himself as he trudged through the snowy forest, glaring at the dark trees that towered over him like bars on a cage blocking the bright blue of the sky, not that the dark mass of mountain didn't do a decent enough job of _that_ as it was.

Blowing out a cloud of breath, Rin buried deeper into his grey arctic jacket and tucked his hands into his pockets, fighting off a shiver as a particularly cold gush of wind swept through the trees and crashed into him as if it was trying to pry him off the side of the mountain. The cold curled around him and Rin felt a fleeting moment of hunger.

Not the type that could be satiated by food, but rather blood and human flesh, something he could sink his teeth into and rake his claws across, the very thing that he renounced just over five years ago. Irritated, Rin snapped his teeth down on his bottom lip and hissed as the pain brought him out of the Staff's spell.

'_Fantastic. That certainly explains why the villagers are terrified of wind'_ Rin thought as he began to move again, his mood even sour.

"Fuck you Moses!"

* * *

Rin had passed through the lower temples and was dancing along to wooded beams that used to be the floor in the upper temple and was singing "_I'll make a man out of you*_" when he realised he could hear the pounding of roughly five hearts, all of which sounded fluttery as if they were terrified or at least nervous. _Humans_, his mind provided helpfully before the image of himself sinking his teeth into flesh plagued him and the teen cursed violently and nearly falling off the beams.

"The only time you let my human nature take over and it has to be _now_?" Rin snarled as he tried to block out the whispering of that damned stick. Of course, the staff would not affect his demon nature but his human side would be flooded. It was just Murphy's Law wasn't it?

Shaking himself like a dog, he straightened himself out of the crouch he had dropped into with the blood lust wave. Rin closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side and tried to determine were about the humans were. It would do no good to cross paths with them if they had succumbed to the Staff's sway, even with his father's skill set, someone was bound to get hurt (or killed) if he accidently ran into them.

Normally – however – It would not be an issue but orders were orders, and Niro _was_ a tyrant for order.

Annoyingly, the beat of his own heart was pounding too loudly for him to pinpoint the exact location any more accurate than to the west of where he stood currently.

"Damn it" Rin cursed, pinched his nose with nimble fingers, and let out a clouded breath through gritted teeth. '_Why does this kind of thing_ always _happen to me?'_ Shaking his head Rin pushed his irritation to the back of his mind and returned to his singing although it was a little less carefree now what with his mood souring.

The mission was bad enough but having to wake up nearly two hours earlier than usual was a killer. Plus, the 'Grunts' did this type of stuff, the hunting and obtaining of dangerous artefacts that the humans and fellow demons could use to cause mass chaos, but for some bizarre reason they were all on house arrest.

_'Well…cave arrest is a much more accurate'_ Rin though distractedly, still sulking.

Rin abruptly froze, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling like an age-old instinct telling him to run. His legs tensed up ready to sprint on that instinct's warning before blinking in surprise. '_What the…' _

_**Bump…bump…bump…bump…**_

With a jolt Rin realised that the five heartbeats from before were literally just round the corner from him.

'_Oh, shit'_. Leaping up on to the higher – less stable – support poles away from the beating hearts Rin crouched down low, desperately trying to hide in the shadows. The murmur of voices sounded just off from where Rin had swung himself up on to the current level, which was just west of the beam that Rin had been standing on…right in plain view. If Rin had not moved in time, they would have had a clear sight of him looking stunned. Grumbling at his carelessness, he turned his head slightly to listen to what they were saying.

"…this is stupid; I say the people down there are just insane"

"You don't know that Idiot! There really could be something up here infecting the people"

"The cold? I have always thought you had to be crazy to willingly live somewhere cold"

"No Shima not the cold. You heard the stories, the-"

"The Staff of Moses"

'_Oh this is just brilliant'_ Rin thought grumpily as he recognised the last voice. '_Just when i was begining to think the day could'nt get any worse'_

It was the last person that Rin wanted to face right now, what with his leg throbbing painfully in an unnecessary reminder of what happened _last _time they met. For even with the healing properties in demon blood, his leg was still injured and tender as hell from when Yukio shot him, the bullet must have been soaked in holly water, because no matter what Rin's master had done the wound still hampered the Halflings movements.

'_Wait a second'_ Rin thought as he looked back down at the group, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he watched his twin brother stride towards the enter of the room with a chilling confidence that almost made Rin smile despite his irritation with the younger boy. Yukio walked across the beams with little trouble whilst his fellow exorcist stumbled after him, moving slowly, and wobbling hazardously.

"I wouldn't fall if I were you, I heard that the trapped monks are still stuck down there" Yukio called over his shoulder and Rin sniggered quietly as the others turned pale. Even the boy who had claimed not to believe paused for a second before scoffing.

'_So the Order is after the Staff as well are they? Interesting…wonder what they want that for_' the raven wondered to himself as he straightened up and began to follow them from above, careful to avoid the rotting parts of wood, damn from the cold and rain of aeons. '_that would be hell on earth is they ever got that damn stick before me_'

Rin knew better than to fail on this mission because whilst this was just a grunt job it was probably the most important one there ever was. The exorcists were humans, and humans could not handle to the Staff. Made to control and force them to believe in the big man upstairs, it was not meant to be left among them. However – of course – there was always one who thought otherwise.

Scoffing to himself Rin danced above Yukio's head for a second before darting head, dodging back into the shadows as the younger twin looked up with narrowed eyes.

"Keep moving, it might not be human but there is defiantly something here," Yukio told his little duckies and in very little time the group was pausing at the end of the room with Rin sat on the joist beams above their heads with an amused smirk as the girl with weird eyebrows flicked one of her pigtails over her shoulder. She glared at Strippy – it seemed they were the same group that was in Tokyo, plus two – who seemed to growl at her.

"Yer, probably one of the villagers that went missing last week" She sneered. Rin was not quite too sure if this was the Staff taking control of their minds…or if this was just normal behaviour for them, exorcists were a crazy bunch of people after all. In fact, Rin very much doubted that unless you were like him and Yukio whose biological father was The Devil you had to be as mad as a hatter to believe in demons.

Strippy spat back "Bullshit. This Staff of Moses driving them all crazy is a load of crap," she snorted and opened her mouth to retort.

"Shut up. Both of you" Yukio interrupted suddenly, turning back to face them with a stern look about him. The teenagers – including Rin – turned to look at him, even though Rin was still smiling and unseen by all of them. "The Staff – whether you believe in it or not Bon – feeds off negative feelings. If you two insist on having you lovers spat in the middle of this temple then I suggest you go do it somewhere else before you infect us all" they said nothing "Good. Now our intelligence says that the monks buried it in the foundations of the isolation chambers. There are three routes to the chambers so we are split up into two's. Bon and Izumo you take the left door – no funny business, Konekomaru and Shiemi you take the right. Shima you are with me, we will take the center. Meet back here in an hour – do not try being the hero. We all move together"

Instantly – as if someone had flicked a switch – the exorcists scattered, leaving only Yukio and Pinkie standing on the beams bellow the amused raven-haired boy.

'_Their information is wrong…the Staff isn't buried in the Isolation chambers, it's in the Main Prayer room_'

Not that Rin was going tell them that. If they wanted to go nosy in some creepy chambers were naughtly Monks were sent to, then Rin was of the opinion that they should be left to it, besides it kept them out of his hair _and_ made his escape a whole lot easier. It was logical. Just leave this silly humans, get what he came for, and leave the creepy temple. No mess, no issue. Yes, that would be a very good plan, he should do that.

He followed the other two boys'.

* * *

Rin knew he should not and that it would just be more trouble than it was worth following the others but some part of him just could not bring himself to leave his little brother in such a dangerous place. Even thought the little bastard had shot him last time he tried helping out the humans.

'_Maybe_ _insanity runs in the family?_' Rin wondered idly as he swung into the lower less sheltered supports. '_That would certainly explain a couple of things_'

They had not even taken more than five steps before there was a loud crack that bounced off the walls like a flashlight and all three boys' stopped with their hearts in their mouths.

_What was that?_ They all though simultaneously. Rin began to lower into a crouch when he felt the wood bellow his feet shake just before a sound splitting crack shot up again. Fake green eyes flickered down and for the first time with a sense of dread, slowly rising up inside him Rin noticed that the wood all along this section of corridor was rotted and worn-through.

The raven froze as he felt the spar quiver under his feet again and bellow him the humans slowly looked up, what nearly verged on fear in their eyes sending shivers through Rin. Pinkie, very much looking as if he were constipated, muttered something too low for Rin to catch but loud enough for Yukio and the boy reacted immediately by stepping backwards.

"Get back" He ordered Pinkie with a tone that their Father used to use whenever one of his "Home Jobs" went blotchy. The little human obeyed without question and despite himself, Rin smirked.

'_Bossy boots_'

The beam creaked again and this time a shower of wood dust fell onto the duo bellow, making them cough and splutter, franticly rubbing at their eyes as they tried to get the dust out. Only Yukio had moved out of the way and now he stared up unblinking – trying to locate Rin in the shadows.

The wood rumbled bellow Rin's feet and he held his breath as he watched little cracks expand into larger gaps as the wood began to split in two. Silently he cursed.

If he moved, so much as an inch the wood would collapse and to be frank Rin really did not trust that – with or without demon mojo – he would be able to clear the wood in time to not be caught and pulled down as well. Maybe if his leg was not still healing but even then it would be close. His only chance would be to try to reach another beam just to the left of him at shoulder height. If he just reached out a little…he could _just_…about…reach the beam. His fingers brushed the wood and Rin felt a smirk pull at his lips '_Yes!_' Then the inevitable happened, Rin shifted his weight just a little bit too much on to one leg and…

…the joist abruptly gave way from underneath him in an explosion of rotting wood and mouldy thatch. Now do not be put off, _normally_ Rin would have easily caught a hold of a slightly lower and more stable support beam. He would have swung up and easily concealed himself back within the shadows however; it is significantly harder to do this when you have a semi-healed bullet wound in your thigh and a fuck load of exploding wood caught among your legs. Consequently, the raven teen fell with a sharp yelp, helpless to stop his decent, a cloud of dust hot on his heels.

'_Brilliant_' Rin thought as he crashed into someone bellow. '_You know Universe, when I asked if this day could get any worse it was a question, NOT A CHALLENGE_'

* * *

**xx-Yuu-Chan-xx;**

**Ahhhhh that had so much fluff and awewwwwww I can't wate for the update :)**

**Jace; **

**Fluff? What fluff? **

_Cale; _

_The caring of Rin from Niro of course, thank you for the review :D_

**Jace; **

**That was fluff? **

**Romano; **

**Enough with the nicknames it's uncomfortable omfg**

**Jace; **

**Sorry but until Rin knows their real names the nicknames are staying **

**Raccoon;**

**AWESOME**

_Cale;_

_I KNOW RIGHT!_

**waffleirons;**

**Is it too cliche to offer my firstborn child for another chapter?**

**Jace; **

**Yes, give us your third born child and a dog instead **

_Cale; _

_JACE!_

_Thank you to all reviews, they really made me smile and gave me the boost I needed to write whilst moving house_

* * *

*_I'll make a man out of you is from Mulan. We found the idea of Rin singing it funny because it is about how a solider should be, with a slightly flamboyant flare_. (**Jace; without all the waffle she found the idea so amusing she cried with laughter and pestered me to write it in somehow**)

_**Please give more reviews in return for the next chapter xxx**_


	4. 4 UmmmmHi?

_Cale; Ah, well…ummmmmmmmm...sorry? I know we are like, a month late with this but there was a minor issue with communication and somewhere along the line something got deleted, then I tried posting my hard-drive to him but the army bummed out on me (something about bombs) so I had to print it all out and post it in a MASSIVE envelop and then there was a thing with a camel and everything got out of control and I am really sorry for being so late. _

**Jace; …Told you she sucked a deadlines**

_Cale; Most of it was your fault! Who accidently deletes their email account and then forgets the password to their new account with in the space of five hours! _

**Jace; - ignores her - Anyway, enjoy this chapter. Chapter 5 will be out at the end of the month if we can get it finished up in time. However, for now, enjoy. **

_**P.S The first half of this chapter is in Yukio's POV so it will seem more of thoughts and internal arguments then actual story but do not worry there is plot in there somewhere. The second half is Rin's and the usual stuff :D **_

_**Enjoy x**_

* * *

Yukio coughed and blinked like mad as dust and wood shavings fell down around him from the explosion of wood just moments before. Groaning the teen sat up from where he'd fallen at the explosion, a nimble hand rubbing the side of his head as he tried to get a bearing on his surroundings.

Where there should have been a pink haired figure empty space ruled instead and Yukio felt a stab of panic. Where was Shima? Movement abruptly caught the young man's eye, narrowing his eyes against the dust Yukio let out a sigh of relief as he saw a darken shape move within. Shima had been stood right bellow whatever had fallen down and the first thought to run through Yukio's mind was more or less along the lines of '_dear god please don't tell me I just got one of my students squashed by an unknown creature'_.

That relief froze in his chest as he caught the snippet end of a hushed argument.

"-need to eat more mate, you're not a very good pillow"

"Oh shut up and get off me strange talking demon"

"Now that's just mean. I'm not that strange"

Frowning, Yukio stood up silently and moved closer to the sound of the voices. He squinted through the dust again, trying to see what was going on without giving away his location. He didn't get very far because as soon as his right foot touched down on the wooden plank before him there was a swoosh of air and the dust disappeared with a pop.

Yukio blinked in surprise at the sudden clear air before him. He blinked a couple of more times before biting his lip slightly.

If he had been anyone else – maybe Shima – then the sight before him would have had him doubled over with laughter, despite the possible danger. Because to be honest, seeing your pink haired teammate sat on by, a rather irritated looking raven-haired boy was somewhat amusing. Especially when the raven looked like he was pouting rather than scowling and despite his cold attitude, Yukio could have sworn he felt the corner of his lips twitch.

Then he recognised the raven-haired boy sat on his friend and all forms of entertainment shrivelled up and died. Quicker than the human eye could follow, Yukio had his gun out and pointing at the two tangled boy's. At the sound of his safety, clicking off a pair of liquid green eyes snapped to meet his and Yukio felt his body pulse with the desire to run from the malice swirling in the depths of green.

'_What is he doing here?_' Yukio raged inside his head, eyes narrowing hatefully '_Why isn't he dead?_' Well that disproved Bon's theory about the guy being a demon of some kind, the bullet that he'd been shot with had been soaked in holly water and the blood of a priest. Combined it proved deadly to near all demons, only powerful demons survived and even then, healing took months.

Yukio watched as dark, thin brows scrunched up as the raven shot the weapons a distasteful look whilst pale, full like lips, sneered showing off sharp white canines. Then the other boys nose twitched before scrunching up, looking as if he had just eaten a sour grape.

'_Nii-san used to do that whenever he ate something sour_' the bespectacled teen thought abstractly, lowering the guns a fraction before rising again as the other boy snorted and climbed to his feet, still pouting. Yukio frowned and widened his stance expecting an attack of some kind.

"If you're going to shoot me again, may I suggest you do a better job of aiming" Yukio grit his teeth against a growl and altered his grip on his gun, the temptation to shoot the cocky son of a bitch raked up a notch. His movements must have been more obvious than he thought because the raven-haired boy arched an elegant eyebrow – eliminating a thin white line on his temple – and smirked. He knew that he had gotten under Yukio's skin and he was enjoying every second of it.

"You know what they say" Yukio grounded out begrudgingly "A moving target is harder to hit" The raven chuckled and shook his head.

"Well you could shoot me – although I doubt that it would hit even with me standing still – or you can help your friend who seems to think I'm a demon" The boy shrugged, moving to the side to reveal a very bedraggled looking Shima. Yukio glared at the other boy for a second longer before grunting and pocketed his gun whilst he hurried towards his friend.

Shima grinned as Yukio knelt down next to him, his experienced hands flying over his friend to find any bleeding or wounds, whilst his brain tried to ignore the burning gaze of intense green eyes staring into the back of his head.

"Yo, Yukio. That guy" Shima told him in a stage whisper, holding heavily onto his arm "…that guy has a tail!" The raven snorted and when Yukio sent a glare at him he caught sight of the amused smirk the sexy bastard was wearing-'_wait what! Sexy bastard? Where the hell did that come from?!'_

Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, Yukio pressed his hand to his friend's forehead, scowling at the burning heat warming the back of his hand. He muttered a curse.

"He's infected" the Raven haired man stated in what sounded like a bored tone. Yukio closed his eyes and cured again. This was really not good. If Shima had fallen ill already then that meant the others would also be falling.

Being in the same uterus as a demon for nine months had given Yukio…slight advantages. One of such being an immunity to these type of air born poisons so he was on his own in this mission. First things first however would be to deal with annoyingly handsome teen who was hovering over him.

"I can see that thanks" He grit out as he pulled out a needle. Stabbing it into Shima's arm Yukio watched as the sedative took effect, making the pink haired boy go limp and bone-less in his arms.

"Heartless" The raven sounded amused and Yukio twitched. How was it heartless to induce a state that meant his friend could hurt himself or others? '_Idiotic outsider…_'

"What are you even doing here?" Yukio snapped as he stood to face the object of his sleepless nights, that damn smirk and all. How could anyone stand there looking cool and collected after just falling from the rafters-wait, what was he even doing up there unless he'd been…

"Where you following us?" Yukio asked with wide eyes. That had to be a stupid idea. Any moment now, the other boy was going to snort and walk off telling him how stupid he was. Because it was a stupid idea, who would be stupid enough to follow the very same person who shot you only three month prior.

The raven-haired boy said nothing, although his smirk grew into a grin that lit up his eyes with all colours of sinful and wicked.

'_Oh, my god…he was following us…me!'_ Yukio stared at the other man, his mouth open and his emotional mask at his feet. "Wha…What?" The raven chuckled as he shrugged.

"It's not like I had anything better to do. And you were acting as the perfect smoke screen" he told him with a wave of his hand. Yukio's mouth snapped shut and he pulled out his gun again, the barrel grazing the others chest – this time the t-shirt was a bright blood red and the jeans looked slightly less worn, although the boots were indeed the same.

"You were using us? Why?" Yukio growled. The raven arched an eyebrow as he eyed the gun aimed at his chest.

"I wanted to see your faces when you realised that the Staff is buried three floors above you and that you can't get to it because the slightly crazy monks have flooded the Isolation chambers down the hall" The raven said in a low voice. Instantly the glasses wearing exorcist caught the soothing tone in the smaller man's voice, it was the type of tone you would use in calming a wild rabid animal down_. 'Slightly crazy? How could you call people who eat human flesh slightly crazy?! Urrrrrg'_

"Wait, you know where the Staff is?" Yukio asked, the barrel digging into the others chest forcing him to take a step back. "How do you know where the Staff is?" his hostage met his eyes steadily, bright green clashing with foam blue. Yukio's heart did a little jump in his chest as the raven continued to watch him from under his lashes. The energy seemed to pulse around them and suddenly Yukio knew that the other man was toying with him, he could escape and probably kill Yukio anytime he wanted. _'Yet for some reason he hasn't…'_

"…You can't feel the pulse of the Staff? It's pretty strong," He finally said softly, his eyes still locked on Yukio. It un-nerved the taller of the two as he watched the other step back slowly, moving away from the gun and giving Yukio time to breath. He shouldn't have been so calm with a gun pointed at his chest…unless he adventures in Tokyo were not the first, which in hindsight made a lot of sense. That was a thought that scared Yukio. Who could train someone to be like that? Why would you?

"Then again, you not being able to sense it might be what is stopping you from being infected." Yukio said nothing, watching the raven with a frown. The Niro operative was acting different suddenly, he wasn't acting cocky, or amused. He seemed…intrigued by Yukio's lack of insanity.

'_Maybe because I'm already insane…maybe it's genetic?_'

"Look I don't know why I'm not infected okay, maybe its because I've had so many vaccinations that this type of thing doesn't bother me," Yukio grumbled as he pocketed his gun. As satisfying as it would be, shooting the other would probably just land him in an even bigger mess. Black strands of hair fell in to the others pale face as he cocked his head to the side.

"Why have you had so many?" He asked. Yukio glared at him.

"Because I'm training to be a doctor"

"You want to be a doctor?"

Yukio blinked and suddenly he wasn't in the middle of an abandoned temple over run with insane monks with a boy he shot three months earlier, but in the kitchen of the house where he grew up with his long gone older brother.

* * *

"_You want to be a doctor right?" Yukio looked up to meet his brother's electric blue eyes from across the kitchen table. Books upon books were piled in front of the younger twin whilst the elder managed the various pots and pans boiling on the cooker. Yukio arched an eyebrow at his twin, not finding the need or desire to reply verbally. _

_Rin scowled for a moment before his face turned neutral as he looked back at the cooking food. Yukio mentally kicked himself, Rin was rarely around recently. It would be a stupid use of their limited time together to be cold with his older brother. Even if the other boy had been avoiding him all week (although Yukio did suspect that that was his fault as well)_

"_Why aren't you looking at any of the medical high schools then?" Yukio blinked stupidly. Rin gave him a tight smile. "You don't shut down the internet pages when you close the lid" he explained before cracking an egg on the side of the counter. The exorcist in training watched as the yoke fell into whatever Rin was cooking and sighed. _

"_I guess it's because I'd only be able to go to schools like that on a scholarship. There is no way that Father would be able to pay the fees" Yukio explained, his eyes firmly on his folded hands before him. He did not want to look up and see the expression on his brother's face because it would be all the things that Yukio had been denying. It would tell of all the things he wanted but had refused for the sake of their family. _

"_Get over yourself" Yukio looked up, surprised. Rin stared back with an unimpressed expression. "What? Were you expecting me to say 'Oh poor little Yukio-kun, you can't afford to go to a posh school to do the thing you love because your too proud to get a scholarship'?" The elder boy snorted. "Oh come on Yukio, yer a scholarship might mean you've got less money than anyone else there but it also shows that you earned your place" Electric blue met foam blue. _

_Yukio blinked intelligently for a couple of minutes. Rin had returned to his cooking and was humming under his breath by the time Yukio had realised that his older brother – who thought he was the smartest person in the world – had just told him off. It was a rather peculiar feeling to be reprimand by an older brother who usually saw no fault. Yukio scowled, what did Rin know? He didn't even attend middle school, what would he know of high school? _

"_What about you? What schools are you looking at?" Rin shrugged carelessly as he flipped a pan whilst stirring a pot of blue stuff. If it were not such a common sight in their kitchen Yukio would have been impressed by the amount of multi-tasking, it was a shame that the elder twin could apply that amount of control in anything else. _

"_I'm not looking" Yukio's eyes widened in horror. "Don't look at me like that Yukio. I don't have any interest in going to high school. It's not for me," Rin told him with an indifferent shrug of one shoulder. Yukio stared. _

"_You can't be serious! Father has been talking about how excited he'd been about us both going to High School!" Rin rolled his eyes and shot Yukio a bored look. _

"_That's because he's an idiot. If he hasn't realised that I'm not academic yet then he needs a good old reality check" Despite wanting to argue that, Yukio found he had no ground. Because the raven was right…he sucked at schoolwork no matter what. _

"_You could at least look at apprenticeships. Your hands on approach would probably be better suited with that," Yukio suggested, remembering a bright flyer he'd seen the other day. _

"_Doesn't interest me" Rin replied absently. Yukio stared at his brother. How could they be so different? How could anyone be that flippant about their future? It just didn't seem possible. Sea foam blue eyes turned to watch as rain lashed at the window pain, it was somewhat relaxing and calming and as a silence fell over the twin's Yukio pondered on Rin's cold attitude. Was it because of what happened last night? Cold regret flooded the brunet. He knew he shouldn't have exploded at the other boy when he came home at two in the morning. _

_However, what was he suppose to do when his twin came stumbling in, his knuckles bloody and his clothes ripped. The litter of bruises and cuts visible on his pale skin and the stench of alcohol on his breath had been enough to set off the rage that rarely showed itself. Although thinking back on it now, Yukio could only see how that too was his fault. _

_He eyed the bandage on Rin's cheek with a twinge of guilt. His brother had only been asking if he was oaky, it didn't warrant the punch Yukio had thrown. The heart-breaking thing was that Rin hadn't hit back he had nodded and walked out of the house without a word. He had refrained from hurting his little brother and that just made Yukio hate himself even more. _

_Yukio was pulled out of his thoughts as Rin cleared his throat. _

"_Look, Yuke. I'm not going to tell dad you're looking at shit school's because of him, as long as you don't tell him that I'm not looking at all. Okay?" Rin said as he dished up whatever he was cooking. Yukio frowned. Their Father would probably be able to talk Rin into trying to better himself but he would also yell at Yukio for not telling him that he didn't want to True Cross academy. Which was not true, but how the hell was he supposed to tell his brother that he was going to an academy to learn how to kill being like him, demons. _

_Yukio looked down at his hands before closing his eyes with a tight sigh. _

_In the end, there was no choice. _

"_Fine. Mum's the word" _

Shaking his head like a wet dog, Yukio muttered a curse. Now was not the time to look back on his memories, however comforting they were. '_Besides it's not like remembering him will bring him back'_ Yukio though with a sigh. Closing his eyes for a moment the bespectacled boy allowed himself a moment of self-pity before his eyes snapped open wide.

The boy!

He was gone. The space he had previously been occupying was empty, desolate, deserted, barren. Yukio cursed again, this time louder. How had he allowed himself to be so caught up in own thoughts that he completely forgot about the dangerous possibly insane man stood right before him! He could have killed both him and Shima with less than a second thought! Yukio stopped himself with a light frown no that was not right…as crazy as the man might come across as he had had plenty of opportunities to kill them all and be off on his merry way…yet he had not.

Groaning to himself, Yukio glanced back at the unconscious Shima. The pink haired boy was happily snoozing, a light snore on his nose. He could just leave him there, the drug would wear off within a few hours and someone needed to be present otherwise he might run amuck in a panic. Yukio pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again.

'_That's it! From now on, I am only taking single solo missions! Working in a team of inexperienced children is really not good for my health'_ Yukio though as he sat down heavily next to his slumbering friend '_Now I understand why at the chance she got Shura stopped working with me and began operating on her own-wait! Shura!'_ Springing to his feet Yukio swiped the flair gun from Shima's belt.

Shura was posted at the base of the mountain along with Shiro and a handful of other exorcists in case they needed back up. Shura would probably be sent up ahead of the others because she was the quickest. If she found Shima, then logically she would round up the rest of his team whilst he was free to hunt down that slippery raven-haired boy.

Releasing the flair, Yukio dropped the gun and turned heel. Shima would be in safe hands now, leaving him free to hunt down the other man.

The young exorcist had not been running for long when he skidded to a halt at the isolation chambers. They were large iron doors that looked impregnable, with heavy double locks dropped in place on large metal holds. Despite that, the doors still rattled and shook as the monks trapped behind threw themselves at them. Trying desperately to escape the creatures screamed and clawed at the doors, beating almost rhythmically against the metal.

Despite himself, Yukio shivered. It did not take a genius to imagine the horror and pain that the animals trapped inside would cause. The world would collapse in on itself, the bodies would line the streets and blood would run freely.

It would be hell on earth.

"Scary isn't it?" someone drawled from above. Snapping his head back to look up so fast Yukio thought he had given himself whiplash for a moment the brunet locked eyes on the tall lean figure of that cocky raven that had been following him. The man was leaning against the wall; his feet planted on a ledge jutting out of the tall stall. His arms were crossed and even though he could see his face clearly, Yukio was sure the other was smirking.

"Where did you go?" Yukio called up, putting his back to the large doors. The other boy shrugged as he straightened up, and as he jumped down to normal level, Yukio caught sight for the first time of what was in the boy's right hand.

The Staff of Moses.

"Do I really have to answer that?" Wicked green eyes danced with amusement as Yukio's jaw hit the floor. The raven was holding the Staff half three-quarters of the way down, in a careless manner as if he was holding a stick from the ground rather than one of the most powerful artefacts ever recorded in religious history.

It was simple oak wood staff, with a tight knot at the top, chiselled into it was a number of different spells and incantations, all of which prevented demons or impure souls from touching or even approaching the staff.

"Where did you get that?" Yukio said softly, almost as if on some level he did not want to disrupt the Staff. The smirk turned into a grin that showed off sharp teeth.

"Exactly where I said it would be, it's not very impressive considering how much trouble people have gone through to get this stupid stick" He said twisting the staff in his hand, examining it with contained contempt. '_I wonder why he's angry with the Staff'_ Yukio thought briefly before the boy's exact words registered.

"It's more than a stupid stick! It has the power to rule countries and break nations! You should be more respectful" Yukio exclaimed in outrage. How could anyone who knew of this secret world and worked to protect it have such disregard for one of the most infamous religious weapons of the new age?!

The raven snorted and shook his head, swinging the Staff hastily around, flipping it over his hand and fingers skilfully as he stalked forwards. That lazy half smirk that set Yukio's body on fire slowly stretching in to a wicked grin as Yukio took a step back for every step he took. The raven cocked his head to the side as he flicked the staff behind him, almost as if he was removing it from direct sight to calm the taller boy.

"What's the matter Yukio? Not scared of this little _stick_…are you?" The other was grinning wildly now, looking for the entire world like a beast about to pounce and devour his prey. Yukio swallowed and scrambled backwards until he felt his back collide with the large metal doors that had gone frightfully quiets and still. His breath was coming in short gasps as he met livid green eyes, his skin felt like it was on fire and with a jolt Yukio realised that the raven was manipulating the staff to effect Yukio with his will alone.

The thought was even more terrifying than the Monks escaping their makeshift jail.

Desperate and terrified Yukio's left hand fumbled with the door handle to the chambers and instantly all cockiness had dissolved from the other boy and he stopped short, eyeing Yukio's hand wearily. The halt in his advance set a temporary relief into Yukio's bones, before a cold calm settled on him and it was clear that the raven had eased up on the Staff's terrifying power.

"…That wouldn't be wise…" The boy told him, looking mildly concerned. Yukio swallowed around the stone of panic in his throat.

"I know that…however people do unwise things when they're desperate" Yukio muttered back. The raven arched an eyebrow, an uneasy smirk on his face '_Probably to cover his own panic_' Yukio reasoned.

"Well, if you that desperate Love*, all you had to do was ask" For some unthinkable reason Yukio flushed red at the words, a splutter on his lips whilst the other boy laughed softly. Even with his spluttering Yukio did not fail to notice that the raven did not once look away from his hand.

"Give me the staff and I won't open this door" Yukio bargained. The other grinned and shrugged, eyeing the door critically.

"Listen, Love. If you can open that door all on your lonesome then I'll be impressed" He shot back calling out his bluff, a hand slipping in to his pockets and the staff slipped back to his side. '_He's subconsciously protecting himself, the monk's wont attack the wielder of the Staff'_ Yukio realised as he shrugged.

"I don't need to open the door. I just have to release the latch and the monks on the other side will do all the opening on their own" that caught the Raven's attention again and the man grinned in amusement and let out a bark of laughter as he shook his head and walk back a little.

"God he was wrong about you" He muttered, almost to himself. "It's much like thinking a girl is a virgin only to find out she's a prostitute" the exorcist frowned.

"Is that an insult?" he asked before he could stop himself. The stranger chuckled.

"It might be…or it could be a compliment" He answered "I honestly wasn't expecting you to be this heartless, all for a stupid stick" Yukio frowned. How was he being heartless? He was just doing his job. This boy was weird. "Alright Love. You drive a hard bargain and this stupid stick isn't worth my life, you have a deal" the bespectacled teen swallowed and watched as the green eyed boy flipped the Staff round so that the knot of wood was pointed at his shoulder and the base at Yukio.

Yukio took a step forwards before narrowing his eyes at the blue bag strapped across the others back. He could use one of those to carry the staff. It would certainly help reduce the effect the wood had on mortals.

His hand tightening on the handle Yukio called out; "Throw in the blue carrier bag on your back and we have a deal" The raven stiffened and looked like black fury for a heartbeat. Yukio gasped. 'What was that?! He looked like he was going to rip my throat out with his bare teeth!' but the moment passed and the smirk was back although it looked a bit stained and Yukio could tell that the other was gritting his teeth.

Stiffly the raven reached back with his free hand and slowly pulled the bag up over his head, his eyes – flickering with cold fury – never once leaving Yukio's. The raven jerked the bag open and slowly eased the Staff inside before snapping it shut. Then with contorted movements he offered up the Staff again, this time contained. Yukio took a breath and walked forwards, hand out reached for the Staff.

However, unheard by both boy's there was a click as Yukio's hand slid off the handle and inside the large chambers behind the vast door there was an ominous silence.

Yukio's hand closed around the bag the instant that the door began to creek open. Both boys's looked up and Yukio would swear for the rest of his life that he saw fear in those flawless green orbs before he turned around to look at the door.

The large double doors had only opened slightly but it was enough for Yukio to feel his knees weaken and fear bit into his chest. Because stood in the crack was a darkened figure – and if the moving shadows behind it hinted at anything, it was that there were thousands of other back there too – and right where the eyes would be were two bloodthirsty eyes glowing in the gloom.

'_Oh crap_' Was the only understandable thought Yukio had before he turned tail and sprinted down the corridor, the sounds of scuttling echoing down after him along with screams and cries of hunger. He did not look back to see if the raven was following him.

* * *

Rin had stayed rooted to the spot for a second or two after Yukio bolted giving him more than enough time to escape with his life before jumping up into the rafters and climbing up into the holly ground. Or that had been the plan if Yukio had not taken the left instead of the right. Cursing Rin had dropped back down and thrown three of his special bombs at the creatures before running after his twin, cursing the entire way.

He was virtually defenceless without his sword but Yukio had taken off with it and now Rin was kicking himself for allowing Yukio to have that bag with the sword still inside it. He could not let Yukio see it though, he would have recognised it instantly, and then the game would be over. However Yukio could not touch the wood with his bare hands nor could he allow any other mortal within five feet of him whilst it was in his possession for fear of driving them insane.

So Rin had given Yukio the bag, sword, and all.

As he exploded out of the corridor behind Yukio Rin rolled to the ground, angling him so he flipped to the side of the passage narrowly missing the stamped of starved Monks. For a moment everything froze and no one noticed Rin coming up out of his roll next to two tiny people who looked ready to piss their pants.

Then Strippy – who had probably been rounded up by whoever Yukio signalled with the flair gun – gave a howl of rage and threw a random stone he had just scooped off the ground at one of the monks crawling down the pillars. Instantly the calm stillness of the sane was broken and everyone jumped into action. Yukio reached out and caught Eyebrows and Pinkie by their collars, yanking them back as five of the Infected jumped down to attack.

On the other side of the hall an extremely large breasted woman cursed loudly as she swung, her snake blades at the monk that had narrowly sank his shark like teeth into the flesh of her calf. All around them chaos ruled and ran unchecked and as he watched from one of the corridor entrances Rin felt absolutely no urge to help either side in this little battle as he climbed to his feet, even though technically it was his fault that they had broken free of their prison in the isolation chambers bellow. Although, Yukio had to take most of the blame as well.

Beside him, the bold short boy gave a strangled scream of sorts and Rin gave him a withering look that was completely missed. _'How the hell is this guy an exorcist? He is practically wetting himself from a bunch of monks!'_ Rin thought as he rolled his eyes, leaning leisurely against the arched doorway. This was not his fight, and he would only intervene if it looked like the exorcists were losing.

Both the little blond girl and the bold boy screamed a chorus as five of the red robed creatures leapt at them snarling and hissing their hunger. As it happened these, five were also possessed and the demons sucking on their souls shuddered as Rin gave their hosts a flat look and uttered one word in a very clear voice that sent the Infected creatures scurrying for the others;

"**Shoo**"

Of course, neither tiny bold boy nor tiny blond girl could see or hear him so to them it just looked like the monks whimpered like kicked dogs and ran off the help attack the others in the centre of the room. Rin rolled his eyes and continued to watch Yukio. Both the Staff and his demon sword were strapped to his back in the blue tube-carrier bag and every time one of the creatures came to close to slashing at it, Rin flinched and averted his eyes. It was just a matter of time before that happened and when it did Rin found himself whining in the back of his throat as his sword clattered to the ground alongside the Staff of Moses.

'_It would be just my luck that the bag gets slashed'_ Rin though bitterly as the Monks scattered in fear as both Staff and sword rolled around on the ground in an almost threatening manner…

The most painful thing to watch – aside from watching his precious sword being _dropped_ of all things – was the look of anguish on Yukio's face as he gasped and dropped his guns, backing away quickly whilst looking as if he had just seen a ghost. _'Well…in a way to him, he probably is'_ it wasn't a comforting thought.

The large breasted woman – dubbed Boob-Lady by Rin – cursed again as she saw the sword, her face pale as well before her eyes snapped to Yukio's face, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Rin growled and nearly stepped out to put himself between the woman and his brother, he _really_ did not like how she was looking at him.

"Where…" She began carefully "Where did you find that exactly Yukio" by this point, all the other exorcists had gathered around them and were looking puzzled and lost. Even the tiny duo had moved out into the open, looking very much like mice. Rin stayed where he was but tensed, ready to bound forward and save both brother and sword from the terrifying Boob-Lady.

Yukio looked up and from where Rin was stood, he had a clear view of his normally steady foam blue eyes laced with tears, whilst fear and agony twisted in the depths. The sight alone made the air in Rin's lungs freeze and for the first time in five years, the Halfling felt guilty for abandoning his brother.

"The Niro Agent – the one from Tokyo – it was the bag he had across his back" Yukio told her in a quiet voice. The others exchanged looks. Rin narrowed his eyes.

"Was that why you weren't there when I collected Shima?" '_Shima? Who the hell was Shima?'_ Yukio looked towards Pinkie. '_Pinkie's called Shima? What a weird name'_ Rin thought off track for a split second before focusing again.

"Yes. He kind of fell on Shima and had been following us through the temple. Apparently, he was using us as a smoke screen for something, he wouldn't say" Yukio told them, slowly regaining his composure "After I knocked Shima out, he disappeared again. I carried on down the tunnel and found him climbing down through the ceiling with the Staff in one hand" At that point Yukio paused. Rin smirked despite himself, Yukio wouldn't want the other to know that he had opened the door to the monks' prison by accident whilst he had been threatening him.

"I gave him a deal, he took it and I ended up with the staff, the bag and the monks on my tail whilst he disappeared again" Yukio said vaguely staring at the sword. Boob-Lady pursed her lips and looked away, scowling as she thought. Strippy looked between the two silent leader with a confused scowl.

"Could someone please explain why this stupid sword is so important" Rin felt the fur on his tail stand on end as he hissed angrily, how that stripped boy dare insult HIS sword! No one but he could do that!

"As you know my older twin brother died five years ago. He was half demon half human and when we were born his powers were sealed into this sword so that he could live as normally as possible" Yukio told them softly. Eyebrows frowned.

"If it was your brother's sword then why did that Niro guy have it?" Ah, the million dollar question of the night. Rin almost wanted to applaud her on using her brain in a way that worked. But he didn't, instead he began to back down the corridor. He couldn't help from here. The least he could do was attempt to draw the monks away and give the exorcists a chance to flee, and whoever was left behind could follow him up out through the roof.

* * *

_Cale; Whoop! Finished. Now for the next chapter :D this one should be coming out at the end of April however please do not be surprised if it comes out in the middle of May. We are still working out the kinks in how we work and whatnot_

**Jace; feel free to review and tell us what you think of the story so far however, it really does boost her confidence and that usually ends up with her dragging me out to some party – which she cannot do anymore :D – or writing a dozen or so pages.**

_**Thank you**_

_**REVIEW!**_


	5. The Name Face

_Cale; Hi, so this is chapter five. Originally, it should have been just over twice as long however the word count was near 9,872 and so we split the chapter in half. _

**Jace; yer and the other half is going through serious modifications because to be fair it just didn't fit with the story and made very little sense. **

_Cale; Oi! I worked hard on that!_

**Jace; yes yes, I know. However if we left it how it was loads of people would get confused. **

_Cale; oh…right. _

**Jace; - rolls eyes – moving on, enjoy the chapter.**

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"_I suppose you've heard the saying with great power comes great responsibility?" A fifteen-year-old Rin looked up and cocked his head to the side as he considered the question his master of six months had just asked him. The two of them sat on the edge of a desolate apartment building watching the sun go down just over the city skyline. It was peaceful and Rin could have happily spent hour after hour perched on the edge watching the world go by. Enjoying the way the wind ran in fingers through his shaggy long hair that was in desperate need of cutting after half a year of being left to its own devices. _

_The teenager gave a lazy one sided shrugged, flashing the elder male a wicked grin. "I think I got that line in a fortune cookie once". Niro snorted and delivered a sharp slap to the back of the laughing boy's head. It did nothing to stop the chuckles that the child had dissolved into however. _

"_Very funny" the hooded man muttered, the sarcasm dripping off every word. "In your case, boy, it holds a message that you should live by" Rin grunted and gave a vicious glare towards the melted candle stubs at that. They had climb up to the roof in the early hours of the morning and had been working on flame control all day with very little success. _

"_I know I know" the boy grumbled with a dark look "I need to get control over my flames or I could kill everyone within range" he'd been lucky so far, he'd never lost control that badly yet but Niro had told him that it was only a matter of time. Truth be told, the idea of accidently hurting someone terrified the teen. He was used to fighting sure but when he was fighting he was in control, every move he made was calculated and evaluated. With his flames, he did not have that type of control, he could not do damage control, and it frustrated and scared him even more. _

"_You are already very responsible with your flames, never using them unless you can help it however I don't believe that is because you don't need them, it is because you are scared of them" Niro told him quietly and when Rin looked up at him he could see that his master was gazing out across the slumbering city. "You have a gift most of our kind would kill for child; however that gift is useless if you cannot use it effectively"_

"YOU BASTARD!"

There was a rather thin line between genius and insanity. Rin had always fancied himself a genius in his own right but as his back hit the ground and the air rushed out of his lungs the young man began to entertain the idea that maybe he was indeed insane. Especially when, instead of pushing his extremely pissed off younger twin brother away as he fell, Rin found himself gripping the brunet and pulling him close as they fell from the hole that they had just escaped from.

The two boys' rolled down the mountainside, locked tightly together as they bounced and crashed over rock after rock until they collided with a large bolder and both groaned loudly. Rin muttered a curse as he sat up, wincing as his shoulder pulsed with pain, – and damn could Yukio tackle! It felt like his shoulder was dislocated – he glanced down at his arm and scowled. His shoulder _was_ dislocated.

"Damn it Yukio! That hurt!" Rin growled down at the other boy bellow him. Yukio groaned again and pushed his hair out of his eyes, which met his coldly. Somewhere along the fall the sea foam blue eyed boy had lost his glasses and for a second Rin wondered why Yukio didn't wear contacts – the boy looked kinda hot without his glasses, even more so with the slight glare he was wearing.

"Fuck off" was the ever-intelligent reply that the taller man gave. Rin snorted with a smirk that made Yukio's frown deepen into a scowl. "Anytime you wanna get off me would be great too you know," Yukio muttered, shifting himself underneath Rin's hips. Rin looked down and blushed darkly as he realised he was straddling the other, his ass just above Yukio's crotch.

"Ah…right" Rin muttered quietly and began to lift himself up off his twin when the sound of snarling and crazed muttering made both of them freeze. Their eyes met for a split second before looking back up the mountain. "Crap"

Crawling down the mountainside was a dozen or so monks.

"_Never_ _let anyone see you use your flames Rin. They will kill you because of it_" Niro's voice whispered in his head a split second before he reached forwards and snatched Kurikara out of Yukio hand, leaving the younger boy clutching the scabbard.

'_Fuck that_' Instantaneously the world around them exploded in a fury of burning blue, the ground ripping away from the earth in a flurry of power leaving only a two meter circle of green zone(1).

The poor souls too close to the brothers had instantly been incinerated as blue filled their vision and expanded until there was nothing else. The monks that had been further back did not have such luck, their screams were deafening over the sound of the blue as they purified. Originally, Satan had used this aspect of his flames to punish, not save but Rin decided he did not particularly care what his father used it for; it was useful.

It was almost as an after though that Rin remembered Yukio between his legs and realized that whilst Yukio would have with him in the _"Green zone"_ he would have been blinded and dazed – possibly even more pissed off than before – from the explosion of blue.

Looking down Rin froze '_Yep…defiantly pissed off'_ he thought as foam blue eyes burned into his. At first Rin thought, he was mad because he had stolen the sword back off him, or because they had very nearly been chewed to death because it looked like, Yukio was fighting between shooting him again and punching him.

The only thing Rin could do as Yukio gripped his hips and rolled them over so that he was on top instead was yelp and frail about for a moment or so until Yukio pinned his hands above his head, hips pinning his to the cold forest floor and his breath ghosting across Rin's cheeks. Kurikara clattered to the ground beside their heads but neither boy took any notice, their eyes locked on each other instead. Rin had froze and was pushed away the little voice in the back of his head whispering that this was a really suggestive position, especially with how Rin's legs – like they had a mind of their own – had wrapped around the other boy's hips when Yukio growled at him; "_How did you get that sword?_"

When the raven-haired-boy did not answer Yukio grit his teeth and growled again, pushing Rin's hands further up causing him to gasp in pain as his shoulder popped back painfully and it was only with the quick inhale of breath that saved Yukio from having his spin snapped. Rin closed his eyes and grunted before opening his eyes to glare at his twin.

"Ow" he bit out, resisting the urge to roll his shoulder back to reduce the cramping pain. "Was that really necessary?" Yukio's answer was to snarl again and pull his arms higher. This time Rin could not bite back the gasp of pain in time and for a moment, his vision blurred with blue as his still activated flames pulsed around the two boys. Yukio did not pay them any mind however.

"This sword should have been buried six feet under in a coffin made of ash wood (2). _How did you get it?_"The brunet yelled, his usually calm eyes sparking with a fury that Rin had never seen before, turning foam blue eyes to something more electric. It sent shivers down Rin's spine to watch as his brother became more like him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Rin closed his eyes and took a calming breath, he had to keep a grip on reality or someone was going to get hurt. Yukio did not give him much time to answer before he was talking again, venom dripping from every word. Each word driving a stab of pain through Rin's heart as he saw the pain his brother was holding at the idea of his, Rins, gave being defiled.

"Did you steal it? Did you dig up the grave? DID YOU DIG UP MY BROTHER!" Yukio yelled angrily, his nails biting into the flesh of Rin's wrists, drawing pinpricks of blood that swelled to raindrops and rolled down his arms the bare floor. Rin said nothing. What the hell could he say to a man who thought his brother had been disturbed by the man before him, without knowing that the other was his brother? That was right; he could say nothing.

'_This is so messed up_' Rin thought to himself as he watched Yukio struggle with himself. '_He need to calm down'_ and with that Rin pushed his hips up into his brother and for a split second he enjoyed the shell shocked expression on Yukio's face before Rin forced them to roll back towards the rock that had stopped their decent earlier. Using his flames to catch the brunet's hands and hold them down for a moment or so as Rin placed Kurikara back into the forgotten scabbard that Yukio had dropped when he pinned the raven.

"You need to calm down mate," Rin told the younger boy as he caught the punch thrown his way effortlessly. His thighs tightening around the others body as he tried bucking him off. "Oi" He snapped sharply, drawing Yukio's furious attention. "I didn't steal Kurikara, it was given to me by a friend before he died" He was of course talking out of his ass but it was better than telling the irritated teen the truth.

"Yer right" Yukio sneered, his face twisting into something ugly and Rin felt his heart wrench at the sight. "My brother would never have befriended a killer like you" the pinned boy snapped back and Rin considered the possibility that Yukio was about to spit at him but then the moment passed and the blue eyed boy settled for glaring.

Rin shook his head and peered over at the sleeping monks, silently counting the human heart beats rushing over the mountain towards them "…as if my luck couldn't get any better" he muttered before glaring down at his brother, patience finally spent. "If you think your brother wouldn't have befriended someone like me then you didn't really know the crazy bastard," Yukio's face went white with rage and Rin took a moment to enjoy the look. His slightly sadistic side coming out as he fucked with his brother's head.

As Rin opened his mouth to continue his point, his voice died out half way into a strangled gurgle sound as his body went as ridged as a board, his eyes wide. Yukio stared back, his expression also shocked as they both looked at the silver blade of a sword as it pushed through Rin's shoulder – the same one that had been dislocated earlier.

'_Oh for the love of god!_' Rin cursed as he turned his head slightly to see the fucking bastard who had stabbed him. His mood darkened as he recognised the man as his once adoptive father. '_Brilliant, just brilliant_'

A light gasp left him as the blade was twisted in his shoulder in an act of pure sadism, the very point of the sword was just narrowly missing the end of Yukio's nose by now, but of course, Shiro was too angry about _something_ to care. Rin felt his eyes glaze over as white-hot pain laced through his arm, shoulder, and spine. Unconsciously the Halfling gripped the exorcist's forearm as he pushed down his animalistic instinct to kill, kill them all, and laugh hysterically as he stood over the bodies.

Rin blinked at that. '_Ooooookkkkkaaaay'_ he thought '_that was…weird_' then he remember the staff strapped to Yukio's back and cursed the stupid stick some more.

"…Ow" Rin mutter for the second time that passed hour. "That…was uncalled for" he informed the elder male grudgingly, his eyes locked with Yukio's as a way to ground himself to reality and not go on another rampage – destroying everything within range – particularly when Niro wouldn't be able to get anywhere close to his location to calm him down. Yukio stared back at him an unknown emotion swimming in the depths of his weird eyes.

"You will stand up slowly and release the boy" Rin stiffened. '_Aaaaah, that is not good' _passed through his mind before he tensed his legs and slowly rose off his brother, his grip however never left and as he moved Yukio stood as well. The tailed boy grunted as he swayed, fighting a creeping darkness at the edge of his vision that threatened to consume him. He really did not want to collapse with scary boob lady stood so close to his back, probably holding her own snake blades.

"Father" Yukio said in a low voice, clearly trying to calm the elder male. 'Not that it's much use; he's probably being influenced by the Stupid Stick' the raven noted. "It is okay, I am fine. I was-" Shiro – the once kindly old man who had adopted both sons of the Devil himself and raised them as his own, – snarled in the back of his throat.

"He has Rin's sword, Yukio. He has just insulted your brother and released the monks of the temple from their prison. He is lucky I missed his heart, Boy" the Paladin bit out through his teeth, sounding to the world as if he was planning to withdraw the blade in his shoulder only to lob his head off with it. Rin swallowed and bit his tongue against the grimace and gasp of pain caused by Shiro twisting the sword, yet again.

'_OWWWWWW! That hurts! I bet the fucking asshole did that on purpose…dick,_" he thought with a gasp as the silver edge skimmed his heart, sending a flush of white agony down his spine. For a moment of two, the only thing that existed was white nose that had the Halfling wanting to sink to the ground and whimper. When he came back, someone was reading him his Miranda Rights.

"-under arrest for working for and aiding a known and inactive enemy of the Holly Lord" Boob lady was sneering in disgust "Nothing you say will save you. May God have mercy on your soul"

Rin snorted at that, turning his head so that he could see the woman clearly, flashing her, a wicked evil grin.

"That Bastard doesn't have mercy on his own followers, never mind 'Soulless beasts' like me" the son of the Father of Lies saw the blow coming and grit his teeth as pain exploded across his skull and the last thing Rin saw was Yukio wincing before everything went dark.

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His eyes were different.

It was stupid, to notice the boy's eyes after hours of watching the young man thrash and whither on the cold cobbled floor. After listening to him gasp, growl, and groan, trying not to scream his agony to the world as he was…_questioned_ and punished for his crimes. Most of the others who had been watching had left soon after it had began, their stomachs and consciences unable to cope. Even Yukio – who was usually so iron hearted – had left, muttering something about him looking too alike to someone. Shiro did not need to guess whom his stubborn son meant.

However, when it stopped and the child was allowed to collapse back against a wall in his cell, panting heavily and bleeding just as much. It was only after everyone had left that his eyes reopened, Shiro felt his heart contract as his slate grey eyes met acid blue. A small, almost silent voice told –_begged_ _him_ – the older man to flee-to run from this injured beast before he lashed out. The voice was ignored and the man swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. Forcing his legs to work, Shiro moved over to the chair bolted to the middle of the cobbled floor and sat down, his legs crossed, hands folded elegantly in his lap as he watched the child before him.

The boy watched him the entire time and it was only after Shiro had been sat for at least five minutes without any movement did the boy snort softly to himself. He then shifted his back against the wall, keeping Shiro and his chair between the bolted door and himself. The action reminded Shiro of a cat licking its wounds after a fight with a dog.

'_It makes sense, considering Mephisto is like a dog with a bone when he's pissed off…and then there's the thing where he turns_ into _a dog' _The Paladin sighed and shook his head. Mephisto has clearly gone too far with this boy's questioning. He was bleeding everywhere and from under the ripped shirt, Shiro could see the shiny glint of burn skin that told him that Mephisto had released his own demonic flames onto the child. There was a large welt on his temple that was still bleeding profoundly, running into his eyes and the back of his head was matted with blood as well. His face and chest were a mass of bleeding sores and cuts with black, blue, and purple bruises freckled across his body, particularly around his rips.

Then there was the large dark red – almost black – stain on his right shoulder where Shiro had stabbed him. The elder male winced at that, he had been furious beyond comprehension and a red mist had settle over him, as the boy had the demon sword in his hands and the insult on his lips. Now, after watching all that he had gone through the exorcist wished he had never done it. Yukio reckoned the Staff had swayed him and Shiro found it hard to disagree.

The other shoulder was clearly dislocated and it looked like his left arm was broken as well, both of his wrists had crescent shaped incisions as well as red burn marks from where his hands had been shackled. The right leg was also broken, the left – where Yukio had shot him last time – was bleeding from where Mephisto had sank his claws into the flesh, and then thrown holly water over the broken skin. That had been the only time that the boy had screamed and he had cut it off sickeningly when he was kicked in the ribs.

It was a surprise and a miracle that the boy was not dead or unconscious yet.

"You know…"Shiro began softly "It doesn't have to be like this. You could just answer our questions, you don't have to go through all this pain" his voice never reached more than a soft whisper and for that he could tell the boy was thankful. He most likely had a killed headache and would have to be checked for concussion – their eyes met and the urge to run made itself known once again. The man chuckled and lent further back into the wall, his uninjured arm gripping at his broken ribs, his head tilting back so he could look at the grimy ceiling.

"Sure. Because helping you goes so much better. I've done nothing but help and you've stabbed me with a fucking silver sword, your youngest son _shot_ me and that damned clown has been playing "_Tell me when_" with me for the past fucking eight hours because my Master happened cut off his tail before I was even bloody born" the boy muttered sarcastically. His dislocated shoulder shrugging slightly before his eyes narrowed and his teeth clamped down on the pain of the movement. Shiro arched an eyebrow. '_He was aware of how much time had passes?...impressive'_ he thought dully. It was not exactly a skill most had.

"You said youngest son. And you were talking about Rin before you were arrested" The boy snorted and shot him a disdainful look that said '_arrested? Oh so that was what that was?'_ "Am I to take it that Niro told you about my eldest, Rin?" Shiro inquired, gritting his teeth against the guilt, anger, and pain associated with his eldest son. The injured beast smirked coldly, as if he would like nothing more than to rip him limb from limb. Shiro could not suppress the shiver of fear that escaped at the look. Somehow the Paladin realised he had just offended the boy.

"Nope" the white haired man frowned at his answer but the look he was being given gave him the idea to move on and ask his other questions.

"Okay…What is your first name-"

"Face(3)" the response clipped the end of the question and for a split second Shiro thought he had something on his face before he realised that that was the boy's name; Face. Shiro arched his eyebrow again, there was no doubt in his mind that that was not his real name but it was a damn sight better than referring to this misled child as "Boy" or as Yukio and his students had been calling him "Raven".

"Last name?" Shiro asked, writing down Face's response and only just looked up in time to see the half-hearted shrug and wince that Face gave. The elder took that as a sign that the criminal did not have one, either that he did not know what it was.

"Age?" Silence met his question and Shiro looked up to see Face watching him with a smirk. Both eyebrows dangerously close to his hairline. It was no relief to the man that the child looked amused rather than offended, instead unease settled into the pit of his stomach.

"Does it really matter?" Face shot back, with a grin that showed off his bone white teeth, he had somehow managed to avoid getting blood in his mouth. Shiro gave him a pointed look before moving on to the next one.

"Why were you at the First Temple (4)?" Face cocked his head to the side, a soft frown brushing his battered features. Shiro arched both eyebrows at this, not understanding the boy's expression.

"The where now?" Face eventually asked, looking extremely confused and probably trying to decide if the old man had finally lost it. Shiro gave him an incredulous look.

"The First Temple. The Temple in the mountains" Face made an O with his lips as he realised what the old man was on about and Shiro let out a sigh shaking his head. How could he not know what the First Temple was? It was clearly written about in the Midrash

"I was looking for the Stupid Stick that your son stole off me" Shiro chocked as his jaw dropped to the floor at that. '_THE STUPID STICK!?_' Face did not seem to notice his horror and continued. "I think you really should have worlds with that boy. He has got a bit of a stealing issue. _And_ he's down right assholy. Did you know that the threatened to release the Crazy monks on me if I didn't give him the stupid stick" he didn't get chance to say any more as the door suddenly swung open and Mephisto stormed in, looking ready to kill. Shiro leapt to his feet but the demon head master was quicker however and easily got past his friend to slam the injured teen into the wall he had been leaning against.

Face had leapt up despite his aching bones the moment he heard the door click, but as he was forced back against the wall all the same, a snarl slipping past his now pale lips.

"Mephisto!" Shiro yelled in panic. It truly looked like his friend was going to kill the child without a second thought and for some reason the Paladin could not bear to watch the tormented boy die.

"Guess who I've just had a little chat with, Boy," Mephisto snarled at Face, ignoring Shiro despite his friend pulling out a gun, uneasily. Face grinned through a grimace, his eyes meeting the enraged demons confidently and without fear despite the torture, he went though.

"The owner of your tail I'll guess" Face sneered back, and Shiro prayed that the boy did not spit at the clown again. Lucky he did not but that didn't matter to Mephisto as he pulled Face away from the wall only to slam him back. This time Face could hide neither the grimace nor the whimper of pain.

"Don't play games with me Child" Shiro glanced back at the door, frowning when he saw a very pale looking Yukio hovering in the doorway. "Why did your Master interfere with our operation" Face coughed and tried to push the demon away.

"Above my pay grade" He gasped, trying to escape from the other male.

"That is enough, he can't breathe" Shiro snapped loudly and this time Mephisto grunted and let the child drop back to the floor where he curled up and coughed repeatedly, breathing heavily. "Mephisto, out. Now" Shiro commanded with a glare. As they walked out neither man noticed the smug smirk Face gave before the door slammed shut.

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_Cale; Sorry for the cliff hanger yet again but that's us done for this month __ we should post the next chapter at the end of May, failing that it'll be the beginning of June. Also thank you to all the lovely reviews we got for the last chapter, they really made me smile __ xxxx_

**Jace; Ummm…okay, review if you find anything wrong with the chapter. It hasn't been through the usual amount of checks our chapter go through because we promised to update this month. Let us know and I'll fix it as soon as I can. **

_**Both; thank you for reading **_

_(1) Green zone is sort of like a safe zone. Like what Byakuran from Bleach has with his Senbonzakura thingie. It explains it better in there. Do not ask me where because honest to god I have not the foggiest._

**(2) I read somewhere once that ash wood was used in witch burnings so Rin's coffin is made from ash wood to stop something (or someone) from processing Rin's dead body. **** Charming, right? **

_(3) Face is the translation for Rin :D now that's cool xx _

**(4) We are aware that the First Temple is not on a mountain but it would be brilliant if you could all pretend that it is :D**


	6. Attention!

_**Attention all readers! Due to unforeseen difficulties there will be no update this month! **_

Cale has hit a massive writers block and its driving her crazy. That and she also got a new macbook for her birthday on monday and chapters six to eleven have been deleted in the migration thingie. We have the original copies, however none of them have been entered into a computer and not been edited. So it'll take us a while to get the story back up to the stage we had it.

That in mind, starting tonight if you go back over the chapters already up, at the end of each chapter will be an added bit we forgot to put in.

There SHOULD be two updates next month but don't get your hopes up - Jace


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